A quick fill-in-the-blank for you.
I’d really like to _______________, but I ________________.
I think we all have something sitting on the backburner of our life. Let’s talk about it.
Just type your completed sentence in the comments section below. I’ll start it off by adding the first comment.
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Pleasure. Even the word is rather… pleasurable. We love pleasure. We enjoy that delight, that state of gratification we find ourselves in when something really pleases us. We are, after all, pleasure seeking creatures and we’ll go to great lengths to experience it.
From sex to sunsets, chocolate to sea cruises, we spend most of our lives (and a great deal of money) on sensual satisfaction. Even when our lives are over, our coffins are made to be soft, comfy, and cozy so that our corpses have a nice pleasant little box to decay in. I know that’s rather morbid, but we really do live and die for pleasure.
My pleasure? I have a penchant for sweets. Anyone who knows me well can tell you I know the Nestle’s Toll House cookie recipe by heart. I love to snack on the dough while I’m making those delicious chocolate chip cookies and often use the excuse “They’re only fresh once!” to eat two or three extra while trying to make my glass of milk last. And don’t even get me started on warm, gooey brownies (no nuts please)!
Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” I love the picture this paints. We can take pleasure in knowing Jesus. I’ve found from experience that this is true. As I spend time with Him, I find it really enjoyable. I experience peace in the middle of stressful circumstances, focus when I’m distracted, and joy when I’m mentally and emotionally maxed out.
One interesting thing about pleasure is that it can be learned. For example, I detested my first cup of coffee. It tasted way too much like, well, coffee. After a while, though, I learned to like it and, eventually, really enjoy it. I like the aroma it gives, the richness of flavor, and the pick me up I get from the caffeine. I can hardly pass Caribou without wanting to grab a tall drink!
The other interesting thing about pleasure is that it can be unlearned as well. If I go for a few weeks without sweets, I actually stop craving them. If I starve that part of my brain that craves chocolate, hot fudge, or Swedish Fish, I can easily pass them up without feeling the need to indulge. I can even reach a point where I know longer receive pleasure from the things I love.
Which brings us back to Psalm 34:8. Over the years, I’ve had the extreme displeasure of seeing some very good friends walk away from Jesus. It’s massively heartbreaking to see them fall away. I wonder how someone could possibly choose temporal pleasures over eternity with Jesus.
About a year ago, a dear friend walked away from Christ, his wife, and children because he found pleasure in the arms of a younger woman. He explained to me how this younger woman made him feel so good and that he just wanted to be happy. I used to challenge this man to spend time in prayer, to “taste and see” every day how wonderful Jesus is. He could never bring himself to cultivate a devotional life because he took so much pleasure in reading the morning paper while watching the sun rise from his back porch. He had starved that part of himself that longs for Christ until it became too easy pass Him by without a glance.
I think that’s why many people walk away from Jesus. They’ve neglected “tasting and seeing” until their appetite for Him has simply withered away. They’ve found pleasure in so many other things until there’s no more room at the table for Him.
I think we all need to do a little more “tasting”. We all need to feed our craving for Christ. It’s easy for days to turn into weeks, and weeks into months without prayer. We need to starve off some pleasures to make room for the Ultimate Pleasure because nothing else compares!
“You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” ~Psalm 16:11
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Another edition of Tozer Tuesdays, prayers from his book The Pursuit of God
O God, be Thou exalted over my possessions. Nothing of earth’s treasures shall seem dear unto me if only Thou art glorified in my life. Be Thou exalted over my friendships. I am determined that Thou shalt be above all, though I must stand deserted and alone in the midst of the earth. Be Thou exalted over my comforts. Though it mean the loss of bodily comforts and the carrying of heavy crosses, I shall keep my vow made this day before Thee. Be Thou exalted over my reputation. Make me ambitious to please Thee even if as a result I must sink into obscurity and my name be forgotten as a dream. Rise, O Lord, into Thy proper place of honor, above my ambitions, above my likes and dislikes, above my family, my health and even my life itself. Let me sink that Thou mayest rise above. Ride forth upon me as Thou didst ride into Jerusalem mounted upon the humble little beast, a colt, the foal of an ass, and let me hear the children cry to Thee, “Hosanna in the highest.”
Amen
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Another edition of Tozer Tuesdays, prayers from his book The Pursuit of God
Lord, teach me to listen. The times are noisy and my ears are weary with the thousand raucous sounds which continuously assault them. Give me the spirit of the boy Samuel when he said to Thee, “Speak, for Thy servant heareth.” Let me hear thee speaking in my heart. Let me get used to the sound of Thy voice, that it’s tones may be familiar when the sounds of earth die away and the only sound will be the music of Thy speaking voice.
Amen
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This is my friend Shelby. She frequently visits the shelter I help at. I met her there last Christmas when my family and I went to go help serve Christmas dinner. She usually wears sunglasses and a cute hat. I’ll join her towards the end of lunch and she’ll tell me what the squirrels say when she drinks her coffee in the park. She also shares about her daughter in New Mexico, her kittens, and the life she once knew a long time ago.
Yesterday, she approached me and asked if I would pray for her. She said she was on day 5 of her “new life”. She couldn’t tell me what her new life was all about or what it entailed but she knew that she needed a new life and that she couldn’t live it without a little help. I was honored to sit next to her and say a prayer.
I have to admit, I wonder why she asked me. We’ve never really talked about faith before. Most of the time I just sit and listen. When I’m not sitting with her, I’m usually helping participants fill out assistance forms or hauling bags of dog food for our pet assistance program. It’s not like I wear a t-shirt that says “Licensed Minister” and I know she’s never read my blog.
The only conclusion I can make is that maybe all that sitting, listening, smiling, and serving has made an impression that no amount of preaching, shoulder patting, scripture quoting, or advice giving could ever make.
Whatever the reason, I’m glad she asked me to pray and I’m still praying that her “new life” continues on to day 6, day 7, 8, 9, 10 and keeps on going.
Before I saw the light… er… switched to Mac, I used to build my own computers. Yep, I loved to pick all the right components and put together a rig that was raw power. One that could edit videos without a hiccup or play any game I could throw at it. Sure it was time consuming and frustrating at times but the satisfaction of putting together a real hot rod of a machine was worth it.
Consequently, when you’re the guy in the family with the nerd skills, your phone often rings with questions from family members about which computer to buy. Usually my computer shopping relative would already have a machine in mind that was a ripper, a real Cadillac of a PC and they just wanted to know what I thought about it. 100% of the time I would ask the question, “What are you going to do with it?” and, most of the time, the answer would be, “You know, play Solitaire, check my email.”
That would be where I had to fight back that queasy feeling in my stomach. You know, that feeling that makes me want to yell, “Are you kidding me?! You want to fork over a thousand bucks so you can play Solitaire? Why don’t you just buy a deck of cards?! Don’t you know all the cool things you can do with that computer? What a waste!”
PCs aren’t the only thing suffering from the syndrome of massively unused potential. One trip to the iPhone app store and you’ll find that the top selling apps are simple games like Tetris and Angry Birds. You can run a business, edit video, and explore earth from satellites in space on the iPhone but people prefer to play “Plants Vs. Zombies”.
It makes me wonder if this phenomena isn’t spilling into our faith. The life Jesus says he came to give us (John 10:10) is life, abundantly, to the fullness, rich and satisfying! So why does “abundant life” seem to be the exception rather than the rule? Why do so many believers I know still struggle with the same baggage they did before they were saved? Why is Christianity for so many just a list of things they shouldn’t do and a series of weekly meetings they must attend? It’s no wonder countless Christians eventually give up, coast, or drop out. What’s the deal? If God is making this awesome life available to us, then why are so many satisfied with just playing Solitaire?
I have a couple ideas about this. In Philippians 3:8 Paul calls knowing Christ his “infinite value”. Some translations read “surpassing greatness”, “best thing of all”, and my favorite “nothing is as wonderful“! Allow me to give you the Lee Bezotte translation to this, “Abundant life comes from knowing Christ.” But wait, there’s more! “knowing Christ comes through prayer.” There, I said it and now I feel better! Christianity without prayer is like playing Solitaire on a 12-Core Power Mac. You’re wasting all the good stuff!
It’s prayer that brings us into relationship with Jesus! It’s not a homework assignment or another thing to check off our discipline list. It’s an invitation to connect with our creator! Who wouldn’t want that?!
OK, I’m about to wrap up but I just want to add one more thing. Many times, when my relative’s computer would arrive, I’d go over to their house and help them get all set up. When I did, I’d take a few minutes to show them all the cool things their new computer would do. Their eyes would get bigger and I could see the light bulbs going on over their heads. They never knew! But when I showed them, it got them excited about using their new computer to it’s full potential. I think most believers never get to that “life abundantly” because no one ever shows them it can be so incredible. If we’re going to have praying churches, then we have to have praying pastors. If believers are to know what a “rich and satisfying life” looks like, it needs to be modeled for them.
So where are you? Have you discovered the “best thing of all”? or are you just playing Solitaire?
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