Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. [James 1:16-17 (CSB)]
I began my prayer with the words of John Baille found in A Diary of Private Prayer. He opened the prayer by praising the “Lord and Maker of all things” for things like “the life that stirs within me” and “the bright and beautiful world around me.” But it was the inclusion of “all you have given me to fill my hours of leisure…music and books and good company and all the harmless and delightful pleasures” that gave me pause. How often do we offer praise and thanksgiving for “leisure” and the “delightful pleasures” of life? Do we regularly praise and thank Him for the taste of strawberries, the scent of lilacs, the joy of making love, napping in a hammock on a summer day, enjoying a latte and a fresh-baked almond croissant, completing a sudoku or crossword puzzle, a good workout at the gym, a game of mahjong or golf with friends, snuggling on the sofa with the cat, eating s’mores around a campfire, playing Crazy 8’s or Uno with the kids, binge watching Netflix on a rainy day, or warm apple pie with vanilla ice cream? Each of us has our favorite leisure activities and sources of pleasure and yet pleasure is not one of the words typically associated with Christian belief. In fact, many consider pleasures to be the devil’s tool used to keep us from a godly life!
“I know we won many a soul through pleasure!” writes senior demon Screwtape when advising his nephew Wormwood on ways to capture a young man’s soul in C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters. Screwtape, however, clarifies that pleasure was God’s invention and reluctantly admits that, “all our research so far has not enabled us to produce one!” The elder demon explains that God “has filled His world full of pleasures. There are things for humans to do all day long without Him minding in the least – sleeping, washing, eating, drinking, making love, playing, praying, working.” Because pleasure is God’s work, the demons’ job isn’t to introduce pleasure but to encourage their victims to take pleasure in ways, degrees, or at times that God (“the enemy”) has forbidden. Screwtape makes clear that, “Everything has to be twisted before it is any use to us.”
Our God-given pleasures are useless to our enemy until he has falsified, warped, distorted, perverted, or misrepresented them in some way. Evil is not found in the pleasure; the evil is in its abuse! When twisted, any pleasure can move into sin territory—relaxing can become laziness and sloth, love can become lust, the joy of sex can get perverted or exploited, the satisfaction of achievement or mastery can slip into pride or obsession, the delight in something new can become an increasing demand for novelty, and the enjoyment of food and drink can become gluttony and drunkenness. Satan’s job is to distort and corrupt our pleasure in such a way that our enjoyment diminishes while our craving increases. When he perverts and distorts God’s gifts of pleasure, Satan’s victims get nothing in return!
Our good God has given us nothing that isn’t good and our faith proclaims the goodness of His world. We have been blessed with the ability to enjoy God’s gifts of pleasure—let us honor Him by being as happy as we can in the delights of every day. On the other hand, we also have been called to be people of prudence and moderation. While pleasure is God’s department, the misuse of it is Satan’s! We have not been given license to enjoy God’s pleasures outside of His law. We are not to indulge in destructive, warped, or excessive pleasures nor are we to neglect our responsibilities for the sake of pleasure. Most important, we are never to love the blessings of pleasure more than we love the One who blessed us with them! Having duly noted these warnings, let us honor the Lord by finding pleasure in His everyday gifts!
There are but two lessons for Christians to learn: the one is to enjoy God, in everything; the other is to enjoy everything, in God. [Charles Simeon]
So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God. [1 Corinthians 10:31 (CSB)]
This is the day the Lord has made; let’s rejoice and be glad in it. [Psalm 118:24 (CSB)]
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When the nation of Israel was established, God said He’d be their king. But the people wanted an earthy king like the nations surrounding them so Saul became king. Samuel told Israel that, as long as they and their king walked with God, all would go well for the nation. Reminding the people to remember all the wonderful things God did for them, Samuel cautioned Israel. If they persisted in rebellion and disobedience, there would be serious trouble: they and their king would be banished (a prophecy of their eventual exile).
“Chocolate comes from cacao beans. Beans are vegetables. Salads are made of vegetables. Therefore, chocolate is a salad!” said the sign in the bakery. “I like their logic!” I thought. If you’ve ever tried to lose weight you probably know the loopholes used by dieters. Broken cookies have no calories because they fell out when the cookies broke, anything eaten with a diet soda is calorie-free, and food eaten off someone else’s plate doesn’t count because the original calories belong to them! Technically, anything licked off a spoon while preparing food isn’t eating; it’s cooking! Furthermore, if you’re eating with someone else, you’ve kept to your diet if the other person consumes more than you! As a once struggling dieter, I know all the excuses to justify over indulging. The worst lies are the ones we tell ourselves and, unfortunately, most of them aren’t as silly as these.
This proverb about iron sharpening iron reminds me of Sunday dinners when I was a girl. After the roast beef was placed in front of my father, he picked up the carving knife and a steel rod. With dramatic flair, he would run the knife back and forth against the steel before carving the meat. For the perfect slice of beef, he used iron to “sharpen” iron.
Along with sins of the heart like greed, pride, coveting, anger, and envy, we have jealousy. It’s hard to make a clear distinction between jealousy and envy and, in most cases, the words can be used interchangeably. The difference seems to be that the discontent and resentment of envy is focused outward toward something we desire and the person who has it while the discontent and resentment of jealousy is focused inward toward something we have and want to keep for ourselves. For example, Rachel was envious of Leah because she had given birth to Jacob’s children but both sisters were jealous of one another whenever Jacob slept with the other one. Most often used in the context of romantic relationships and often coming from insecurity, jealousy is a mix of overwhelming possessiveness with a little paranoia on the side.
While the Hebrew word translated as covet, chamad, can mean “take pleasure in,” it also means “ungoverned selfish desire.” Chamad ranges from wholesome delight to illicit craving. It’s not a stretch to see how taking pleasure in something that isn’t yours can lead to desiring it and wanting to acquire it. When David saw Bathsheba on the rooftop, he delighted in her beauty but that delight grew into such desire that he took what belonged to his neighbor. When Achan saw the riches that were to be set aside for God, he coveted the wealth for himself and stole it. When Elisha’s servant Gehazi saw the wealth Namaan brought to his master, he was filled with desire for what wasn’t his to take. Coveting the wealth that Elisha refused to accept, Gehazi chased after Namaan, concocted a lie, and took some of that wealth for himself.
