Psalm 16:11. You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy: at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
What brings you pleasure? It’s ok to answer. Eating? Entertainment? Exercise? Sex? Your work? A hobby? There is no end to the things in this life that bring us pleasure. In fact, everything we do, we do because it brings some level of pleasure. Even the things we “don’t want to do,” we do because we want to avoid the pain, guilt, or suffering of not doing them.
Let’s ask another question. Do you find pleasure in God? Does God bring you fullness of joy? What if I told you that the meaning of life was to find pleasure in God? Would that surprise you? God’s goal for us is not that we become really good rule-keepers. God’s goal is for you to enjoy him forever. But here’s the twist – finding pleasure in God is not just the destination, it’s the entire path of life, and it’s not an easy path.
God has filled our lives with so many simple pleasures to be enjoyed, but over time pleasure becomes elusive. It takes very little to bring joy to a young child. Peek-a-boo. A small toy. A song. Fireflies. But as we grow older these things no longer make our hearts soar. We become “bored.” Our hearts are hardened. We are left running greedily from pleasure to pleasure, making the joys that were once gifts from God into the gods we worship. Each fails to bring ultimate satisfaction until, over time, our capacity for pleasure is hardened.
Or maybe pleasure eludes us because we believe that we are not supposed to be experiencing pleasure in this life. Maybe you think that pleasure is sin. Pleasure is hedonistic. Pleasure-seeking is not pure and godly. But the truth is that experiencing pleasure is what makes us alive. The problem is not that we seek too much pleasure, the problem is that we don’t seek the greatest pleasure of them all – God.
Psalm 16:8-9. I have set the LORD always before me…Therefore my heart is glad, and my whole being rejoices.
You might be thinking, but what if God is not my greatest pleasure? What if God is hard for me to find joy in God? How do we solve this foundational problem? By first knowing that God finds joy in you.
In Psalm 16:10, David says, for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see decay. David’s heart is melted knowing that God wants him to live forever. God will not abandon David in life or in death. God will not leave his holy one decaying in the grave. He will bring him into his glorious presence forever. Is this true of us also? Yes. How do I know? Because it is ultimately true of Christ. Jesus was not abandoned to the grave and neither will any of us be who are in Christ Jesus. Hallelujah!
Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus endured the cross because of the “joy set before him.” Joy? What joy? You and me. The one thing Jesus was lacking in eternity was us. Just as David set the LORD before him and found joy, Jesus set us before himself and found joy. A joy that would keep him on the cross. A joy that would never keep him in the grave. And a joy that will never keep us in the grave.
To live is Christ means God himself is our greatest joy and his presence is our greatest pleasure. Why? Because his greatest joy and pleasure is the pleasure of saving us.
You: What brings you pleasure?
You in Christ: How do you feel knowing that in Christ God finds pleasure in you?
Christ in you: How can you let the million small pleasures of life today take you into the presence of God to delight in him?
To Live is Christ 