(http://www.flickr.com/photos/unpolarized/208532652/)
While it's not something most of us will admit, when we reflect on it we have to affirm that much of what we do in life is to avoid pain and to maximize pleasure. We might not use such polarizing terms, terms that describe the opposite ends of the spectrum - but it's generally true.
I was speaking with a pastor the other day who shared with me that the reason people become apathetic or bored in their walk with God is usually connected to the spiritual disciplines. As I probed a bit, he said, "The disciplines force us into a place that is not easy. Sure, we 'like' talking with God in prayer or reading the Bible, but if I had to choose between eating ice cream or reading my Bible as to which one brought the easiest pleasure with the least amount of energy, the ice cream wins."
But the irony is that while the immediate pleasure has to be denied in order that we grow in our walk with God (i.e. I want to sleep in but I get up to read my Bible), the outcome of the discipline is the greatest pleasure we can find - knowing and being known by God.
Consider your life as I consider mine. Do I seek temporary pleasure, immediate pleasure at the cost of greater, lasting pleasure. C.S. Lewis described it like this:
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
I was speaking with a pastor the other day who shared with me that the reason people become apathetic or bored in their walk with God is usually connected to the spiritual disciplines. As I probed a bit, he said, "The disciplines force us into a place that is not easy. Sure, we 'like' talking with God in prayer or reading the Bible, but if I had to choose between eating ice cream or reading my Bible as to which one brought the easiest pleasure with the least amount of energy, the ice cream wins."
But the irony is that while the immediate pleasure has to be denied in order that we grow in our walk with God (i.e. I want to sleep in but I get up to read my Bible), the outcome of the discipline is the greatest pleasure we can find - knowing and being known by God.
Consider your life as I consider mine. Do I seek temporary pleasure, immediate pleasure at the cost of greater, lasting pleasure. C.S. Lewis described it like this:
“We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
- tC
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