Dear Friends,
Pleasure is a person’s feeling of enjoyment, delight, and satisfaction. By extension, the word also applies to the things that produce this feeling in people – the so-called pleasures of life. In the Bible, beauty is a source of pleasure, such as that which is made known in nature, art, and music. Worship, too, is pleasurable.
Family life, romantic love, and the pleasures of community and sociability are also praised in scripture. A leading biblical theme is that we do not have to look far to find pleasure. We find pleasure in food and in drink, and in wealth and possessions. Given the premise that everyday life can be a source of pleasure, virtually any daily activity can become pleasurable, from sleeping, to praying, to engaging in athletic pursuits, and so it is in the Bible.
God wants creation to be happy, and underlying all of the Bible’s images of human pleasures is the conviction that God is their source. In response, what gives the characters and writers of scripture the most pleasure is God. It is certainly no secret that humans have a tendency to abuse the pleasures around us, and to demand even more than we already have. Yet, when we take the time to appreciate life’s pleasure in all of their abundance, we are freed to receive each day as a gift that is enough for today, tomorrow, and forevermore.
Peace and best wishes,
Jon