You only live once.
Better hurry, then. Better take all the pleasure in with big gulps and big gasps until you’re stuffed with it because soon you might be dead. Better see everything and do everything and say everything and be everything because there will be a moment when it is all over. Life, I mean.
If I can wade through the hedonism of this cultural phenomenon (YOLO), what really remains is fear. That simple monster scares us into believing this is all there is – that “wasting this life” means missing out on late nights and roller coasters and fishing trips. Fear is that big, ugly giant in our closets and under our beds who reminds us we are mortal and convinces us pleasure is mortal, too. Fear.
It looks like freedom, to hurry and hustle and chase pleasures. But even the best of pleasures, the seemingly good and unselfish ones (like conversations with your son or marrying your best friend or traveling to every wonder of the world) are never meant to be sought in fear. We were never meant to chase pleasures as the unknown date of our mortality inches closer – to think we would lie more pleasantly in our graves knowing that we enjoyed bar scenes on all seven continents.
We were not made to seek pleasure out of fear. We were made to seek pleasure out of freedom.
Pleasure is not bad. If that were so, God would never be pleased. But He is pleased. He delights daily in His creation and He has made us in His image to delight and enjoy pleasures as well. Every day, more pleasures.
Isn’t that splendid? We are made with pleasure-seeking in our veins! But God does not seek pleasure out of fear. He does not hurry and hustle to store up treasures… it sounds silly to even suggest it. Our God is in the heavens, He does whatever He pleases (Psalm 115:3). He is not constrained by a timeline – by a mortal death that inches closer every time the sun rises in the east.
When we are united with Christ, mortal life is no longer the timeline for our pleasures. We need not fear the minutes that have already passed this morning and how we haven’t seized the YOLO anthem in every breath.
The Christian’s pleasure-seeking is rooted in the security of eternity.
When we are secure about eternity, seeking pleasure looks different. It looks like joining in God’s pleasure, pursuing holiness, and enjoying every good thing without fear. Instead of chasing and grasping and gulping in pleasures, we join God as He delights in the beauty of creation.
As we delight in the Lord (Psalm 37:4), we are conformed to be pleased by what pleases Him. My pastor used to say that God changes our “wanter” – our desire is no longer to chase fulfillment and worth in pleasure, but to seek fulfillment and worth in God. Our delight is in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1) and on this law we meditate day and night. The source of our delight is an otherworldly and eternal spring, welling up to give profound pleasure.
In Christ we live twice, and one of those times is forever. It takes the pressure off pleasure-seeking in this life because we have the assurance of eternity (and pleasures forevermore).
And this is freedom.
MUSINGS IN THE MIDST 
Spot on, Caroline. Love ya, sister. 🙂
Thanks, and all the love back atcha!
Also been thinking about Heaven and how the wonderfulness of what we have to look forward to sure takes the pressure off of trying to create heave on earth before I die. Seeking perfection within brokenness is impossible and exhausting. Thank You, God, for Your promise of a hope and a future that I don’t have to create myself!
I would totally agree, but add that we CAN seek heaven on earth without pressure because we rely on God’s promise to be faithful. He does (time and again) make beauty from brokenness and life from dry bones and he has called us to bring the kingdom here. It does not happen in our power or through our human efforts, but we are ambassadors of His kingdom coming – I agree with you that we rely on His promise of hope and a future! We can be partners in His promise keeping as we seek the kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven! Thank you SO much for your thoughts on this… it has sparked many more!