The Kingdom is like a hedonist

I know we’ve all heard this before, but I was reminded about it again this morning…
Jesus told a story: The kingdom of God is like a man who found a treasure in a field. He buried the treasure in the field, sold all he had and, in great joy bought the field.
In Jesus’ terms, and in his words, the "gospel" simply meant "the Kingdom of God." The kingdom, or the gospel is supposed to be something that produces two things: Joy, and the abandon to "sell all" to get it.
Twenty years ago a Christian writer took a lot of heat from the piety police over the sub-title of his book; "Meditations of a Christian Hedonist". His point, following Christ should produce pleasure – or in more biblical language, Joy.
Why are there so many up-tight, stressed-out, ticked-off, sour-faced, messed-up Christians? Maybe we’ve got it wrong. Maybe I’ve got it wrong; I must confess to not being very joyful and full of abandon.
Just a thought.