A Biblical Balance

By what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

–2 Peter 2:19

There’s nothing wrong with pleasure in and of itself. God created pleasure for our benefit; He wants us to enjoy the life He’s given us. But pleasure becomes a problem in three specific cases that I’m going to share with you today and tomorrow.

First of all, pleasure is wrong when it’s in excess. Have you ever noticed how one television program can turn into an entire evening of watching television, or how one bowl of ice cream can turn into a whole pint? There’s nothing wrong with pleasure, but it has to be in balance. In Exodus 20:9–10, God gave us the balance we ought to maintain between work and pleasure: “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work.” A lot of people have turned the Sabbath into a list of legalistic restrictions. But the Sabbath is a gift from God to us to remind us of His plan for how we’re to do our business: six days on, one day off. There is supposed to be a balance.

That’s why the idea of retirement is so dangerous. When people decide to spend the rest of their lives entertaining themselves, they are turning into lovers of pleasure. I’m not saying you have to work at the same job forever, but you need to work at something. Spending decades entertaining yourself is a recipe for spiritual disaster. I once knew a couple who served faithfully in church, investing in the lives of junior high boys and girls. In their midfifties, they retired and bought a lake house, and they started missing church once a month, then twice a month and three times a month. They had to give up their junior high Sunday school class, and eventually, they fell away from the Lord Himself.

God says we are not to forsake assembling together (Hebrews 10:25). God’s plan to keep you spiritually strong is for you to be productive and involved in your local church. If you are gone from church more often than not, you are in danger of becoming a lover of pleasure. Pleasure is wrong when it is in excess.

Second, pleasure is wrong when it becomes our life focus. An idol is anything you think about, talk about, or spend your money on more than your relationship with God. Peter said it this way: “By what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved” (2 Peter 2:19). Your pleasure is out of balance when it becomes your life focus.

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Today’s devotion is adapted from “Addicted to Pleasure” by Dr. Robert Jeffress, 2009.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org.