Good Morning Friends,
Solomon tried pleasure thinking it would
bring fulfillment and satisfaction to his life. But he did not find it
there. Instead, in the end he found
pleasure to be meaningless.
“I thought in my heart, ‘Come now, I will
test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But that also proved to be
meaningless. ‘Laughter,’ I said, ‘is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish?’
I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly - my mind still guiding
me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was worthwhile for men to do under heaven
during the few days of their lives.” (Ecclesiastes 2:1-3)
Can you find pleasure in a bottle of wine? Perhaps
it will dull the pain for a short time, but the pain comes back with greater
strength when the effect of the wine grows dim. To stay in a drunken stupor
robs you of all of life. Wine isn’t the answer to purpose and meaning in life.
It doesn’t add meaning, it takes it away, glass by glass.
Can you find meaning in laughter? The life of
the jokester seems happy, but nothing is accomplished. The laughter fades and
the jokes grow cold and there is no meaning left in that path.
Choose your pleasure, pursue it with all the
fervor you can muster. It only leads to a dead end. The path of pleasure is
filled with lights and noise and nothing more.
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t enjoy life. God
has given us all things to enjoy. (1 Timothy 6:17) What it does mean is that we
shouldn’t make the pursuit of pleasure the goal and purpose of our lives. To do
that really does make life meaningless.
There must be something better than pleasure
to pursue --- and there is!
His, by Grace,
Steve
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