Month: May 2010 (Page 2 of 3)

Devotions from Gary Thomas book, Pure Pleasure

Today’s devotional is on laughter and seems to be timed well as we have laughed so much lately with our resent visitors!

“If we can’t open the pressure valve with laughter, we just might explode. So laugh or die. It’s up to you!” Kevin Harney

And Elton Tureblood writes “Humor is redemptive when it leads to comic self-discovery.”
Humor can be as God’s servant—bringing people in, lightening their heavy loads, creating little mental ‘rests’ etc. 

Why do we sometimes feel that ministry must be serious and somber to be holy?  But really it is an absence of humor that poorly reflects on the image of God who created laughter.  When we were in St. Augustine Al bought a picture of Jesus laughing and has it right by his desk as a reminder to lighten up.
Because we are human, not gods, heavy responsibilities without laughter and pleasure can destroy us. God has created a healing balm – laughter. Spiritually, it will lift us up and give us the strength to face life’s serious challenges.

The more serious our situation, the more strenuous our work, the more we need to laugh.  “We need to have large enough minds to hold seriousness, obligation, and responsibility in tension with enjoyment, laughter, and fun.”
It’s healthy to laugh at ourselves too and admit our limitations, and show that we all struggle .

There are physical benefits as well as it is good for our cardiovascular system, lowers our blood pressure, elevates our mood, boosts the immune system, reduces stress etc.

Let us laugh and celebrate the goodness of God today.

Devotions from Gary Thomas’ book Pure Pleasure

Francois Fenelon said, “When we have found God, there is nothing more to look for in men.” In each of our lives we will encounter difficult and trying circumstances and people. If someone hasn’t betrayed you, you’re unusual! Our spiritual enemy wants us to use our disappointments to  become self-focused and  self-centered.  But we can draw spiritual energy and life from obeying God and allowing Him to use what ever circumstances we are in for His glory. His kingdom can spread even in desperate situations.  If we feel sorry for ourselves, it won’t solve anything and just uses up energy we could be using to address the problem.  When we stop focusing on what we lost and become grateful for  what we do have, we move towards true joy and pleasure. When certain pleasures are closed to us, we have to trust Him to provide alternate pleasures of maybe a different sort. “Feelings of entitlement feed anger; feelings of thankfulness swell our souls and make us tear up with overflowing gratitude. Thanking God helps us recognize what pleasure we do have while at the same time increasing our pleasure.”
The author advocates rediscovering laughter and how good it is for our souls. 
We must remember that the most intense pleasures of the world won’t last but we have eternal pleasures waiting for us to which this world can never match!

Devotions from Gary Thomas’ book Pure Pleasure

Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, an international community for people with intellectual disabilities said, “ So many people with disabilities are seen by their parents and families only as a tragedy…. But every child, every person, needs to know that they are a source of joy; every child, every person, needs to be celebrated. Only when all of our weaknesses are accepted as part of our humanity can our negative, broken self-images be transformed.”  The sooner we accept our weaknesses as part of our humanity, the more we can learn to embrace others.  Our homes should be a place we here we are loved, celebrated, and enjoyed, not a place of judgment and disappointment.  Let us take pleasure in one another. Families begin to break down when they stop enjoying one another. Children are not just projects to be improved but real people to be enjoyed, to laugh with, to relate to, to play with.  Families often get obsessed by fears, worry about the future, and concerns of all that could go wrong. When we do this we bury the present and its joy and no longer build times of pleasure together.  Enjoying the present instead reminds us of all that is right. Today why not ask ourselves what we can do to bring pleasure to our spouse, kids, and friends.

Devotions based on Gary Thomas’ book Pure Pleasure

In Ecc 7:16, 18 it says “Do not be overrighteous, neither be overwise- why destroy yourself?… The man who fears God will avoid all extremes.”  Some may make an idol out of poverty, wanting to be more pious. Spurgeon believed in riding first class on the train and a smug man approached him and said he was trying to take care of the Lord’s resources, and was traveling 3^rd class. Spurgeon answered him, “You take care of the Lord’s resources, and I shall take care of the Lord’s servant!”   Of course we should act responsibly but some might choose to skimp on some things in order to find pleasure in something else. “Cheaper is better” doesn’t always square with scripture.  We can make frugality a god when we sacrifice family.  The author is very big on family fun times together . Kids grow up quickly and that season of raising them ought to have some fun family times together, even if it means saving all year .  Let us not judge one another in this area. One woman challenged Gary Thomas on regularly buying Chai tea from Starbucks. She on the other hand was driving a much more expensive vehicle than his Ford.  Let each of us find balance in our own lives

Devotions from Gary Thomas’ book Pure Pleasure

As Christians we need to embrace and celebrate true, godly pleasure, lest we become susceptible to soul-destroying substitutes. If we feel all pleasure is wrong, then we squeeze all the joy out of life and  end up squeezing part of God out of life too. We close ourselves off from the beautiful, and all-inviting side of God.  But He also gives us appropriate boundaries.  We can tell if a pleasure verges on becoming a dangerous threat to us by: 1. Thinking about it all the time. 2.Getting impulsive about it. 3. Getting compulsive about it. 4. Getting out of control about it etc.  It’s important to control our pleasures or they will control us. We must not become a slave to anything. There is a hierarchy of pleasure-with God at the top- that orders all of our other pleasures.  He designed us to receive pleasure in many ways as He is preparing us for an eternity of pleasures for ever more!  Let us have a healthy balance and not go off into extremes.  We need the right mix of work and play for even He rested on the 7^th day.

Devotions from Gary Thomas’ book Pure Pleasure

Our need is to live IN the pleasure instead of living For the pleasure.  When we live In the pleasure, we take time to savor it; that moment becomes sacred. When we live For the pleasure, we often get so tied up with the expectations, fear, anxiety, and a sense of entitlement that we just rush right through it and never really enjoy it. We fear that someone will take it away from us. We need spiritual strength to enjoy pleasure in this world. Without self-control, our passions become like minefields of potential spiritual destruction. “Some of us need permission to embrace pleasure; others need to gain more responsibility and self-control so that they can truly enjoy the pleasures they’ve previously polluted with a lack of discipline.”

We need to seek His kingdom first and His righteousness, and then all the other things will be added as well. When we come to know the Lord we receive a new heart and new desires. And as we delight in Him, He gives us the desires of our hearts. Ps. 37:4.

As we surrender our pleasure to God’s design, our desires become a reflection of His.  As we live this day may we let God redefine and shape what brings us pleasure.

Devotions from GaryThomas book, Pure Pleasure

Peter Kreetf said “I agree that pleasure as such is good, but not that all pleasant things are good.”
In James 4 it says that friendship with the world is hatred toward God. And if we choose to be a friend of the world we become an enemy of God.
“Desire divorced from God becomes decadence. Decadence, in turn, chases away true, godly pleasure. We have an obligation to preserve holy pleasure, in part by approaching God with open, inquiring hands: “May I have this?’” When we run our pleasures by God, He acts as the filter, telling us what will build us and what will destroy us at any given moment. It is not wise to seek pleasure apart from God or we become enslaved. He wants to provide for us and will satisfy and nourish us. So many think that holiness and pleasure are opposites. But Holiness is pleasure’s truest friend. We find spiritual health in trusting that God knows best, and will give us strength to choose the best.

 A test of overpleasure (that is a sense of entitlement), is seen when we have to delay our pleasure or it is taken away and we get very upset. For example the author loves to jog but if his schedule is interrupted and it becomes a major issue, then it has become an overpleasure. We are not entitled to it at all times over and above our relationships and responsibilities.

“The brilliance of Christianity is that it gives us permission to enjoy appropriate pleasure as well as the power to enjoy pleasure without becoming its slave, which in turn preserves pleasure for the long haul.”

Devotions from Gary Thomas’s book Pure Pleasure

Francis Fenelon said, ”What do we need?…..Not to neglect our own needs while devoting ourselves  to those of others, and not to neglect the needs of others while being engrossed in our own.”

If we live our life out of obligation, neglecting our need for rest and recreation, we ultimately choose a spiritual breakdown..  Our pride leads us to believe that we can set unhealthy schedules and not suffer the consequences. This is not faith is it neurosis.  Dr Carnes said he sees relaxation and leisure as essential to break the cycle and power of addictions.  Almost all relapses from any addiction starts with life-style imbalance. Living in the extremes and being overextended leads us to addictive feelings of entitlement ….that we deserve it and just a little won’t matter.  Well meaning Christians can say they don’t need occasional times of rest and pleasure and end up spiritualizing the breaking of the rules by calling it “faith”.  We need to be humble and not keep driving ourselves into the ground or we will have a spiritual meltdown.

Let us ask ourselves if we are living, worshiping, and ministering out of a sense of joy and delight in the Lord, or are we driven by frustration, duty, and obligation? Let us delight in God so that we can delight in others and even delight in life.