Balance, Beloved! (Part II)

Scripture: II Timothy 3:2,4 - “…men will be lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.”  

A popular slogan from several years ago heralded the phrase, “Work hard, play hard(er)!!”  The Bible is full of accounts of people who prioritized pleasure-seeking, to their own detriment:  King Solomon,  Nabal (1 Sam. 25:36), and “a certain rich man,” whose story was told by Jesus in Luke 12:16-19, to name just a few.  The Greeks even had a name for pleasure-seekers: “Epicureans,” and there is certainly no lack of its practitioners here in the twenty-first century!

Exposure to the Holy Scripture’s warnings about dedicating one’s life to pleasure, in exclusion of prioritizing the pleasing of God with one’s life, should not be disregarded.  One need only watch a few episodes of that old T.V. show, “The E True Hollywood Story,” to see the oh-so--sad life scenarios of formerly rich and famous people, many of whose lives were tragically ended by Hedonism and godlessness.  Their relentless pursuit of “the good life,” one without the Lord God at the helm, shouted out “vanity of vanities; all is meaningless!” The great 16th century theologian Martin Luther even weighed in on the emptiness of majoring on pleasure-seeking when he said, “Both pleasure and pain are temptations, but the greater temptation is pleasure.”  
Of course, one need not be rich or a celebrity to appreciate the wisdom of shunning the idolization of pleasure.  The wisdom of leading a balanced life-- one with sufficient “margin” and rest, as opposed to workaholism, endless activities, or thoughtless, selfish pleasure-seeking-- all of which can eclipse  opportunities to truly know, commune with, and enjoy God-- should not take a lifetime to learn!  We can learn from the mistakes of King Solomon and all those modern-day hedonists, famous and otherwise, that were so woefully disappointed at the end of chasing what they believed was “the good life.”

Prayer:  Oh, Father, thank You for the blessedness of being able to work and earn money for life’s necessities, (and a few luxuries, too, from time to time).  We thank You for opportunities to laugh and enjoy wholesome leisure activities!  We praise You, as well, for the greater, more enduring privilege of knowing and experiencing You as the Giver of every good and perfect Gift—not the least of which is precious time! Help us to keep these temporal lives in balance.  In Jesus’ name; amen!

(by Denise Diggs)