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.