{"id":14070,"date":"2024-05-10T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2024-05-10T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/?p=14070"},"modified":"2026-03-10T18:02:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T22:02:10","slug":"the-sin-of-unenjoyment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lightbearers.org\/blog\/the-sin-of-unenjoyment\/","title":{"rendered":"The Sin of Unenjoyment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Once I posted a picture of a meal I made on social media. Somebody who saw it asked me, \u201cDon\u2019t you have more important things to do with your time?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

More important than delighting my eyes with colorful fresh produce from the Earth?<\/span><\/p>\n

More important than decompressing from the stresses of life in the kitchen while crafting those ingredients into something that has never been created before, not precisely as I was about to craft it?<\/span><\/p>\n

More important than experiencing the sheer joy of seeing the whole thing come together with the nervous hope that it was gonna taste as good as I imagined?<\/span><\/p>\n

More important than putting my culinary creation on the table, sitting down with my wife, holding her pretty hand in mine, and telling my Creator, \u201cThank you for the nourishment and pleasure of this meal\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

More important than seeing my wife smile after the first bite and say with approval, \u201cThis is delicious! Good job, husband\u201d? Even her critique is enjoyable: \u201cI think maybe less of the sweet peppers next time. What\u2019d you think?\u201d I take another spoonful into my mouth and pay closer attention. Sure enough, she\u2019s right. Or maybe I just like agreeing with her because she\u2019s so good to me, and a better cook than me.<\/span><\/p>\n

More important than taking in all the holy pleasures God has provided for our enjoyment and elevation?<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, no.<\/span><\/p>\n

No, I can\u2019t think of anything <\/span>more<\/span><\/i> important. I can think of things equally as important but not more important\u2014except the great sacrifice God made for us in Christ to redeem us, and in redeeming us, redeeming pleasure to its good intent.<\/span><\/p>\n

May I share something for your consideration?<\/span><\/p>\n

Ever since I became a follower of Jesus, I have encountered this mournful, self-flagellating \u201cspirituality\u201d that is down on pleasure and obsessed with \u201cself-denial.\u201d Yes, self-denial is a good and righteous thing if we mean refraining from bad and unrighteous things. But, as I see it, God-given pleasures protect us from sin. I\u2019m not saying I don\u2019t sin. I do. I am as fallen and stupid as you are, unless you\u2019re unaware of how fallen and stupid you are, in which case I am as fallen as you are, but definitely less stupid. All of my theological studies lead me to believe that you definitely do not want to enter the Day of Judgment in a bad mood due to a lack of enjoyment or, worse yet, a lack of confidence in the Savior\u2019s love.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am as fallen and stupid as you are, unless you\u2019re unaware of how fallen and stupid you are, in which case I am as fallen as you are, but definitely less stupid.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Imagine you meet God face-to-face in the judgment. You immediately sense that He is not happy about something. He looks straight into your eyes and says, \u201cYou didn\u2019t have enough fun. I gave you an incredibly beautiful world and surrounded you with sights, sounds, smells, and flavors. I equipped your body with sensory receptacles and your mind with perceptual powers and emotional capacities. I made you with the ability to experience astounding enjoyment, and you made yourself into a killjoy in My name. You led yourself to believe that pleasure is wrong when I\u2019m the One who built the pleasure system of creation as a gift to you. You starved your body and soul of holy pleasures, and as a result, you fell continually into unholy pleasures, which are really no pleasures at all. I placed you in the middle of a gorgeous paradise, and you didn\u2019t taste, touch, smell, or look upon and experience much of it at all. In this, you have sinned greatly. What do you have to say for yourself?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s not how we generally envision the Day of Judgment unfolding. And yet, that\u2019s how the ancient Hebrew people saw the judgment, based on the creation account in Genesis 1-2.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA person will be called to account on Judgment Day for every permissible thing he might have enjoyed but did not\u201d (The Talmud).<\/span><\/p>\n

When the apostle John spoke about God\u2019s desire for His children, he said God wants us to experience \u201cjoy to the full\u201d (1 John 1:4).<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most counterintuitive accounts of Jesus, almost never quoted because we\u2019re not quite sure what to do with it, is this:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Son of Man came eating and drinking\u201d (Matthew 11:19).<\/span><\/p>\n

This is a firsthand description of what people observed when they encountered God coming from heaven to earth to save us. He \u201ccame eating and drinking.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What an incredible picture of God.<\/span><\/p>\n

He saves us from sin by socializing us into His love. Fallen human nature is inclined to over-correct, to swing to extremes. And often, that looks something like running from a lion only to meet a bear. Yes, we should run from sin, but we should not run from God-given pleasures.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get a puppy and lavish years of affection upon it.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

We should, in fact, run from sin into the holy pleasures God has so graciously provided for us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Get a puppy and lavish years of affection upon it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I want to share a secret with you. At least, it sure seems like a secret because I never hear anybody talking about it. Lean a little closer. I\u2019m going to whisper it to you just once because some people will get mad if they hear it:<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the most powerful things you can do to overcome sin is to flood your senses with all the legitimate and holy pleasures God has provided for you. If you are full of holy satisfaction, the desire for unholy indulgences will be far less attractive.<\/span><\/p>\n

So go on long walks in the beauties of nature with someone you like. Get a puppy and lavish years of affection upon it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Play with your children and laugh your head off with them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Frolic in the ocean.<\/span><\/p>\n

Listen carefully to the birds sing in the early morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

Become captivated by beautiful music.<\/span><\/p>\n

Buy an old piece of furniture, turn it into something lovely, and give it as a gift to a friend.<\/span><\/p>\n

And by all means, spend time in the kitchen making delicious food, sit down with those you love, and enjoy it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Don\u2019t be among those who commit the sin of unenjoyment.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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