IS THIS REALLY TRUE?
I’m guessing that some of you are thinking to yourselves, ‘Really? Is this really true?’ Sadly, what I’ve tried to describe to you often seems alien, even ‘un-Christian’ to many. That’s because we’ve been brought up to see Christianity as basically a suppression of most things that, if we’re honest, seem to be pleasurable; otherwise why would people do it?
Let me throw out a statement which might shock some of you!
I believe that every man, woman and child on Planet Earth has been created to be pleasure and delight seekers! Every human being without exception!
We live in a world that is so switched on to this fact. A while ago, Lorna and I went to the Cinema. It was an enjoyable evening, but what amazed me the most was the multi-sensory pummelling that we endured prior to the film actually starting. This came from advertisers who were switched on to the fact that every human on planet earth desires pleasure. They enticed us with the pleasures of money, status, achievement, an adrenalin rush, romance, sex, fame, security, friendship, love, and so on and so forth. These advertising companies know that in the heart of every human, there is a craving for pleasure and delight! For some people, their attempt to gain pleasure will be very obvious and visible, but for others it will be much more hidden and invisible, but nevertheless, it’s still the driving force within them!
I believe that one of the greatest tragedies throughout history is the way the church has handled this truth. Too often the church has tried to suppress pleasure and delight. Many people would see or describe Christians as ‘pleasure killers’, on a mission to lock down any opportunities that people have to seek pleasure and delight! This is often articulated as a list of don’ts – that is to say, “Don’t do this and don’t do that”! Let me say here that I believe this approach is fundamentally flawed and this is why. It’s because I believe that God created every human to be pleasure and delight seekers! I believe with all my heart that God hardwired us as humans to go after pleasure with all of our might.
Where things go wrong is not that people seek pleasure, but rather ‘where’ and ‘in whom’ they seek it. C.S. Lewis so eloquently articulated this point:
“If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant (a philosopher) and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith [that’s a pretty strong statement]. Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered to us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
What is C.S. Lewis saying? He is saying that men and women in every age, culture and walk of life are too easily satisfied by secondary pleasures. It’s like we’ve eaten at MacDonald’s too many times and have grown accustomed to the taste and so turn down an invitation to eat at the Ritz or some other world-class restaurant! We are too easily pleased, by secondary pleasures!
I want to encourage you to unlock the fountain of pleasure-seeking in your heart! I want to encourage you to become a raving pleasure-seeker! I want to encourage you to run the race with great oceans of joy set before you! I also want to show you that a true pleasure-seeker will only be truly satisfied when they draw pleasure and delight from one place, or should I say, one person – and that is Jesus Christ!
The Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “What is the chief end of man?” Answer: “The chief end of man is to glorify God… [however, this is the bit we often forget] and enjoy him forever”. This question and answer is an attempt to squeeze loads of Biblical truth down into something memorable. However, from cover to cover, the Bible is filled with the language of pleasure-seeking. Listen to a few examples:
Psalm 16:11: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (ESV)
Psalm 37:4: “Delight yourself in the Lord” (ESV)
Psalm 43:4: “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy” (ESV)
Matthew 25:21: “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. … Enter into the joy of your master’” (ESV).
I could go on and on. The pages of the Bible are filled with the joy, pleasure and delight which flow from God himself! If we suppress this pleasure-seeking in God, all we are left with is the cold and calloused shell of duty!
Delight or joy is the gauge in the human heart that measures what we value most!
What moves your Delight Gauge the most?