What a reminder that God is the Giver of all good gifts--of all pleasures. He is the One who gave us not just day and night but flaming sunsets and brilliant pink sunrises. He is the Creator of Blue Herons (and I saw our Blue Heron buddy today in the creek!) and Bengal Tigers and towering majestic mountains and peaceful ocean waves. He is the One who gave us ears to hear music and our loved ones' voices and who gave us eyes to see the beauty of the earth and of paintings and sculptures. He is the One who gave man the ability to create and to produce moving books and movies and music and poetry. He is the Author and Giver of all true and good pleasures, and He made these pleasures because He loves His children. But the question is, will we keep those pleasures in balance? Will we enjoy those legitimate pleasures that bring joy and peace and contentment or will we allow sin to infect and destroy that which God gave as good?
A couple more principles about how pleasures work: a) All pleasure must be bought at the price of pain. For true pleasures, the price is paid before you enjoy the pleasure. For illicit pleasure, the price of pain is paid after you enjoy it. And I might add, the price is always far far worse than anything you could have imagined, and the pleasure always far less than you imagined. b) Meaninglessness does not come from being weary of pain but from being weary of pleasures (the wrong kind of pleasures)--this is from G.K. Chesteron. c) The closer you get to pure pleasure, the closer you get to the heart of God. The closer you move to illicit pleasure the farther you get from God.
How true this is! There is just nothing like taking an early morning walk with my sweet old lab early in the morning, listening to God's Word on my iPod, and watching the sky slowly start to lighten and the world to awaken from it's evening slumber. The peacefulness of the predawn hours, the serene beauty of the animals we see from deer to Blue Herons to foxes, the joy of moving and listening while feeling the crisp air--truly a pure pleasure that is a gift from my extravagant God. I am always reminded of one of my favorite lines from one of my favorite movies, "Chariots of Fire." Eric Liddell is talking with his sister who cannot understand why he will not give up this silly, trivial dream of running in the Olympics in favor of coming right then to the Mission field. He explains to her, "God made me for a purpose. But He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure."
God did indeed make Liddell for a purpose, and part of that purpose was to run for His glory and win a gold medal in the 1924 Olympics shortly before heading off to the mission field in China. I cannot imagine how many countless people have been impacted by his life--and his pleasure in running--and I count myself as one of them. God used that legitimate pleasure both to bring Liddell great joy and to bring great glory to the Lord.
More on this tomorrow, God willing, but for now, thank You Lord for the pleasures of walking and listening and seeing. Thank You Lord for the pleasures of stroking a sweet old dog and laughing with our children and chatting with my sister on the phone. Thank You for the joys of church and worship with dear friends and the freedom to still do so in this nation. Thank You Lord that most pure and wonderful pleasures are free and simple and so readily available that we often take them for granted (until they are gone). Help us not to miss those good, gracious gifts that You have so freely bestowed upon Your children, simply out of Your boundless love and to bring us joy. To God be the glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment