Legitimate & Illegitimate Pleasure

“… at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11)

“… lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:4b)

God is not, despite much popular misinformation to the contrary, against pleasure.  Rightly understood it is fair to say that God is pro-pleasure.  It was “the Father’s good pleasure for all the [divine] fullness to dwell in” Christ (Colossians 1:19, NASB).  God wills and works in us “for his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13).  In His sovereignty God asserts, “My purpose will be established, And I will accomplish all My good pleasure” (Isaiah 46:10, NASB). 

And God is not against your pleasure.  God is not seeking to minimize your pleasure.  He is seeking rather to save you from puny, passing, ultimately disappointing pleasures.  He wants to rescue you from being far too easily satisfied with momentary, fleeting pleasures.  He wants you to enter His pleasure — a pleasure that is not gone as quickly as the food is swallowed, the sex is over, or the spotlight moves to fix on someone else.  He wants to move you into the unceasing flow of His eternal joy.

But as we pass though this life how do we determine what is a legitimate pleasure and what is an illigetimate one? 

The most helpful counsel I have ever heard in this regard comes from Ravi Zacharias.  Its profundity is found in its simplicity:

A legitimate pleasure is one which we pay for before we enjoy it.

An illegitimate pleasure is one which we pay for after we enjoy it.

Ponder this.  I think you’ll find it is true.

Good at & Good for

“I will run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” (Psalm 119:32, NIV)

We all want to figure out what God wants from us.  What is His will for my life?  What does He require of me?  What ought I to be and do?

In pursuit of answers to these kinds of questions we each must consider not only what God has made me good at, but also what has God made me good for.

The answer to the former is found in discerning what God has done in imparting to you spiritual gifts, natural talents, and shaping experiences.  Figuring out what you are good at is a matter of competency and skill.  You might be good at car repair, football, sewing, computers, baking, nuclear physics, etc. 

The answer to the latter is found in discovering and discerning what God has done in shaping your heart.  Discovering what you are good for is a matter of calling and character.  It is harder to quantify this isn’t it?  In fact it might be easier to describe what you are no good for – things for which you just don’t have the heart and for which you just can’t sustain the passion.

What you are good at, we might say, is a matter of the hands.  What you are good for is a matter of the heart.

Both are vital.  But it seems to me that a person might be good at certain things, but also only good for doing those things in a certain arena or for a certain cause or purpose.  You can use gifts, talents and the like for many things.  After all a great writer could compose cheap and bawdy literature that debases the human soul or she could write with style and substance that imparts life and hope to her readers. 

What you are good for has to define and direct what you are good at.

A person who has discovered what God has made them good at is a person who has direction and a future to pursue.  But a person who has also discovered what he is good for finds the field of possibilities drastically narrowed—not because he doesn’t possess the skill for some matters, but because God has “spoiled” his heart for anything other than what He has made him for. 

Are you asking more questions about what you are good at or good for?  Some people would settle to know what they are good at.  They would love to be the best in the world (or even in their school or family or on their block) at something.  But that can be an ego-driven matter.  We need to know what God has made us good at, but we can’t stop there.  We must know what God has made us good for.  Because then we can not only do our best, we can do it for the glory of God and with all the passion and purpose for which He gave the abilities in the first place.  When we discover what we are good for we begin to transition from just “doing” to enjoying our “doing” as doxology.

The Presence of God

Psalm 46 is a celebration of the power of God’s presence.  Note the repeated refrain: “The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (vv.7, 11).  The Psalm is divided into three stanzas by the word “Selah” (vv.3, 7, 11).  Each stanza informs us of what God’s presence empowers us to do.

God’s presence empowers us to refuse to fear. (vv.1-3)

       God’s external protection: ”refuge” (v.1)

       God’s internal power: ”strength” (v.1)

       God’s perpetual provision: ”an ever present help in trouble” (v.2)

God’s presence empowers us to rejoice in God. (vv.4-7)

      God is with us as a River: “a river” (4)

      God is with us as a Ruler: “the city of God” (4)

God’s presence empowers us to rest in God. (vv.8-11)

      Consider God’s works! (vv.8-9)

      Cease your wrangling! (v.10)

Cry out to the Lord!

Psalm 130 teaches us how to cry out to the Lord:

1. I cry to the Lord out of the depths. (1-2)

“Out of the depths I cry to you, O LORD! O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy.”

2. I cry to the Lord out of my depravity. (3-4)

“If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?  But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.”

3. I cry to the Lord out of my darkness. (5-6)

“I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope; my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.”

When I do so cry to the Lord, I find Him faithful. (7-8)

“O Israel, hope in the LORD! For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption. And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities.”

Facing a new year at rest

Psalm 131 is a prayer of a person at rest with God, with his world, with himself.  Not a bad place to begin the new year and decade. 

A person at rest prays with …

A humble heart.

“O LORD, my heart is not lifted up; my eyes are not raised too high; I do not occupy myself with things to great and too marvelous for me.” (v.1)

A hushed soul.

“But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.” (2)

A hopeful resolve.

“O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.” (3)