The apostle James reminds us that every good and perfect gift comes down from God, and that includes the gifts of pleasure. God made us for pleasure, and He knows how to surround us with it so that we look with gratitude to Him. Today’s excerpt from The Kingdom Turn is found on page 133:
“The pleasures of this life are gifts from God and tokens of the greater pleasure to be enjoyed within the orbit of His gracious rule and glorious presence. In Scripture, the idea of pleasure is addressed from two planes. First are the pleasures we derive from partaking of or participating in created things. All such pleasures – whether of eating and drinking, making and sharing, celebrating or loving, viewing or touching – all such pleasures are legitimate and meant to be enjoyed, but only when we receive them as giftsfrom God. When we pursue such pleasures as ends in themselves, then we are deceived and we run the risk of falling under the displeasure of God.
“The second plane is the plane of pleasure as God intends it – divine pleasure, or, pleasure as God knows it, according to the will and pleasure of God. God gives the pleasures of this life as gifts and tokens of the greater pleasure to be enjoyed in knowing Him. The pleasures we know in our earthly experience should turn our hearts with gratitude to God and lead us to seek the greater pleasure that comes from communing with Him.
“The Kingdom of God is the arena within which human beings may discover true pleasure, and may partake of the fullness of joy and pleasures forevermore which can be known in God and what pleases Him. The better we understand pleasure as God knows and intends it, the more truly pleasurable our lives will be within the Kingdom turn.”
For reflection or discussion
1. We don’t want life’s pleasures to become idols, so what should we do to enjoy the pleasures of this life as unto the Lord?
2. How can believers help one another enter more fully into the pleasure of the Lord?
The little pleasures of life—a friendly text, a fresh cup of coffee, a clean desk—come as gifts from God, and the more we receive them as such, rejoicing in Him and giving Him abundant thanks, the more we will be drawn into the orbit of God’s own pleasure. Share today’s podcast with a friend, then get together to discuss it. You can subscribe to receive Read Moore Monday through Friday by using the Subscribe form at the bottom of this page. Your copy of The Kingdom Turn awaits you at The Ailbe Bookstore.
T. M. Moore
