THINK TOGETHER.
What is something that brings you pleasure (makes you feel happy)?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 21:17. Whoever loves pleasure will be a poor man; he who loves wine and oil will not be rich.
Here is another warning proverb. Solomon wants his children to know that loving pleasure is a path to destruction. If you love pleasure you will be poor. Solomon likely doesn’t just mean poor as in having no money (it takes money to buy all the wine and oil), but he may mean spiritually poor.
But what is pleasure? Basically, pleasure is a good feeling that we get when we are doing something we like or something that makes us feel good. What brings you pleasure? Baseball? Reading? Singing? Eating? Playing with friends?
Pleasure isn’t bad, in fact it is a gift from God. God gives us everything that is good to enjoy. The problem comes when we love pleasure. When we chase after things because of how they make us feel it will always lead to trouble. If we do something only because it makes us happy, well then our lives will become very, very selfish and shallow. Worse yet, we will put those pleasures in the place of God in our lives, and soon those things will stop making us happy altogether.
For example, if singing brings you pleasure, but then you make it the most important thing in your life, then singing won’t be fun anymore. It will become something you HAVE to do to feel good, instead of something you WANT to do to make God feel good.
God says love me and then the pleasures will come as a result. Sing because you love God and then he will take pleasure in your singing. But if you don’t sing or if you aren’t great at singing, that’s OK too. God still loves you and takes pleasure in you. How do we know? Because he loved you enough to die for you on the cross, not because you’re a great singer, but because he is a great God.
Because of Jesus God takes pleasure in us, especially when we simply trust him.
With Jesus we can take pleasure in God first, and his gifts second.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
The Pixar movie Cars demonstrates the problem with loving pleasure. Ask: What brought Lightning McQueen pleasure at the beginning? At the end?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, help me be happy simply by being with you and loving you. Amen.
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