Devotions from Gary Thomas’s book, Pure Pleasure

God delights in our delight!  In Isaiah 62:4-5 it says “The Lord will take delight in you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.”
Enjoying God and what He has created (in the way He intends us to enjoy it) brings pleasure to God.  If you are a parent, you can picture your joy as you watch the delight of your children tearing into their presents on Christmas morning. 

Our Father also takes pleasure in our joy.

If we live only out of duty it robs our heavenly Father of great pleasure. But when we connect our pleasure with God it builds our souls and strengthens us.  Pleasure divorced from God leads to pain and misery.

. “A vital relationship with God colors our pleasures with a holy passion and leads us to value relationship over the spirit of possession, intimacy over ambition, and service over selfishness. God sets us free to revel in what He has designed for our enjoyment and eventually, as we mature, we begin to detest what goes against His nature and will.”

So we don’t need to fear pleasure but fear separation from God that will corrupt our sense of pleasure and make the pleasure drive dangerous.

 As we pursue God we will find pleasure is a by-product of life lived in surrender.  Let us continue to journey with Him so that our hearts can be gradually shaped to look for the deeper side of pleasures.