ODB: The Pleasure Is Mine
July 25, 2011
Are we living for our own pleasure, or living to please our heavenly Father?
READ: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11
I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure . . . All was vanity and grasping for the wind. —Ecclesiastes 2:10-11
I always look forward to summer. The warm sunshine, baseball, beaches, and barbecues are pleasures that bring joy after a long, cold winter. But pleasure-seeking isn’t just seasonal. Don’t we all enjoy good food, engaging conversation, and a crackling fire?
The desire for pleasure isn’t wrong. God has built us for it. Paul reminds us that God “gives us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17). Other passages welcome us to the healthy pleasure of food, friends, and the intimacy of a marriage relationship. But thinking that we can find lasting pleasure in people and things is ultimately an empty pursuit.
Ultimate pleasure is not found in the short-lived thrills our world offers, but rather in the long-term joy from a deepening intimacy with our Lord. King Solomon learned this the hard way. “I did not withhold my heart from any pleasure,” he admitted (Eccl. 2:10). But after his pleasure-seeking spree, he concluded: “All was vanity and grasping for the wind” (v.11). It’s no wonder he warned, “He who loves pleasure will be a poor man” (Prov. 21:17).
What we are really looking for is satisfied only in a fulfilling and growing relationship with Jesus. Pursue Him and taste His delights!
— Joe Stowell
Source: Our Daily Bread
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Humanly speaking and base on a normal life that I am living. I take pleasure in seeing my chidlren growing healthy and learning from church and school. I take greater delight in loving my wife more with each passing years and years ahead if God’s willing. I take great pleasure in seeing how the Lord lead me and knowing the He will take care of my family’s needs.
I am not saying that I don’t have or don’t need a sense of fulfillment and pleasure. I do have my needs and wants but in comparison with other people’s needs sometime it will be wise to satisfy other people by forgoing my own in order to win others for the Lord in loving them within ethical means.
I think I can say, “It is my pleasure to serve the Lord, my eternal God”.