We all want it and it feels good in the moment but that feeling fades fast. It can be naughty or nice but without looking deep into our heart’s motives with discernment we are blinded by our sin. As Christians, we need the Word of God to bring light to this gray area to illuminate the path we are following. Not all paths lead to home.
The bigger question to ask ourselves is which home are we truly looking for? Our earthly homes are temporary but yet we spend much time and money making it comfortable and beautiful as if it were our permanent residence. We find great pleasure in decorating, maintaining, and cleaning it and there is nothing wrong with that if we keep ourselves in check with our motives and desires. Is it our greater pleasure to ignore the greatest pleasure of God’s presence for that which is temporary? Not only is it temporary but everything we do for our comfort and pleasure here now will distract us from the Kingdom of God. Idolatry is a result of seeking out our pleasures above all. Satan uses the vice of pleasure to distract us from seeking and worshipping God. He wants to destroy our relationship with God. Our best act of defense is to be in deeper prayer and petition with the Holy Spirit. We should not grieve the Holy Spirit but feed him constantly and consistently. God’s Word is the bread of life and Jesus is the Word of God. John 1:1-5 states,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
The secret sauce is revealed!
The Word of God tells us what his purpose and meaning of beneficial pleasure is for his children. It is God’s goodness that draws us near and Satan hates it. Because Satan is the Prince of this world, temporarily, he is capable of taking what was meant for good and distorting it into something that produces death. He draws us away quickly from the presence of God by luring us with the temptations of sin. Our souls were designed to be filled with the Holy Spirit to give us everlasting life not to fill ourselves with pleasures that lead to death.
I have spent all my life chasing after pleasure. It created a deep and thick root in my heart that was impossible for me to remove. It blinded me from God’s best for me. Because I wanted to feel good and avoid pain I was never able to see God’s love for me nor develop a deep love for God. I had pleasure to come and fill my soul up with leaving no space for grace. But as everyone experiences, pleasure comes and pleasure goes quickly, leaving a seething emptiness that is desperate for more. This is the pattern of addiction. We are all a slave to a pleasure of some sort and it is hiding behind smoke and mirrors of sin. Everywhere you go there it is calling you like a siren on the horizon. As you approach its desire sets in like cement drying on a hot day. Captivated by its promise of a feeling whether of power or happiness you have lost the battle.
It all seems so helpless and even impossible to overcome the pleasure principle but that too is a lie. We have a God that is so in love with us for we are his workmanship, that he made a way and the way is Jesus Christ. Jesus is “the Way, the Truth and the Life”, John 14:6. With Christ we have been redeemed if we believe he is truly the Messiah, the one sent from God. Salvation is our way out if we believe that Jesus is the righteous Son of God - the spotless lamb sent from heaven; That he took the burden of the world's sin upon himself to the cross and was crucified so we would be set free from sin and death. We have hope if we believe Jesus rose from the dead and is seated at the right hand of God and will return for the second coming at the end of the age. We will have life to the full eternally in heaven with God and all those who believe and follow Christ Jesus.
We need to feed our souls with the bread of life, that is Christ. We need to walk, talk and live as Jesus did by loving God and others as well as ourselves. By abiding in Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit we will overcome sin because Jesus conquered it for us!
It is not easy to overcome our sin. Sin works closely with pleasure. It does not have a conscience and it acts independent from the Holy Spirit. It is our job to control our thoughts through the awareness of the power of the Holy Spirit. We need to surrender to the Holy Spirit all day and night long. Our brains and bodies are designed to house our souls so we may be filled with the Holy Spirit, that we may live for God through his spirit not our desires and pleasures. We need to learn that God is the object of pleasure which we should be investing our energy and time in. We have received so many good things from God like nature. Those are good gifts and necessary to our survival as well as enjoyment. If we get ahead of ourselves we can start to worship them and leave God out of the equation. This is when it gets tricky and that is why we need to be in tune with the leading of the Holy Spirit and be steeped in God’s word, studying it and meditating on it. We need the church to be our accountability partner and our mentor, encouraging and correcting us from the paths that can lead to sin.
Praise God that he thought of if all! He made a way and it is perfect. Trust in Him alone. There is nothing out there that you are missing out on if you are abiding in Christ. In Christ you have everything because he is everything. He is the pleasure principle we should be seeking with all our hearts, minds and souls.