I am reading “The Pleasures of God” by John Piper.
I know, I’ve recommended this book on this page at least a dozen times, but I just can’t stop recommending it! It changed my whole understanding of the word of God! And I have read it (well, hearing it through Audible these days) a number of times now. I read it twice and heard it multiple times via Audible. Since someone is reading for me, it is easy for me to listen (the beauty of Audible?).
Anyways, this is the truth of God that was lingering in my heart for the whole day today:
The devil presents sin to us attractively, making it pleasant to our eyes and tasty to our fleshly “taste buds.”
This strategy of the devil has been working effectively since the Eden Garden:
“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.” Genesis 3:6
And human race fell with them!
You know what the invitation says?
It says :
“You can find pleasures greater than you can imagine and you will be honored and glorified by others! And you can find all these things without needing God or His approvals!”
Wow!
In a way, the invitation is to “Be God!”
And we tend to fall for this invitation more than we want to admit, don’t we?
Why?
We never give ourselves enough time to experience the joy of making God our only God. We don’t let ourselves live for the glory of God according to Scriptures and enjoy the pleasure in it.
So we always fall for the devil’s old and ragged message of: “You will be god and you will be happy forever.”
In the same way, the root issue of sexual sin is found in this one simple question:
Do you want God to be your God or do you want to be the god of your life?
Please choose God to be the God of your life every single day and live for His glory because you will never run out of joy, pleasure (sexual pleasure, too), peace and rest.
Because, remember, the devil is a liar! Did you hear me? He is a liar!
Our pleasure, including sexual, is hidden in the glory of God. There is no pleasure without glorifying God. Glorifying God does not mean listening to Gospel songs or teachings; rather, it means denying self and living life according to the word of God.
You see, you and I CANNOT be happy and find pleasure in our lives while we are dishonoring and defaming God by the way we live, by living as enemies of the cross against the word of God. ///