Biblical Jamaica
and as they go on their way they are choked with worries and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to maturity. Luke 8:14
Pleasures – Hedonism II, the infamous Jamaican singles resort, brings images to mind that appeal to sensual delights. The owners of this resort have gone to great lengths to cultivate these images. Advertisers know that there is a part of us that is subject to the base desires of the flesh. That’s why “what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas.” Man without God has no problem taking moral vacations.
For this reason, we need the additional information added by this parallel passage in Luke. Mark 4:19 tells us that the Word of God is choked by “my share” thinking and the seduction of “more than enough.” Luke adds the last example of the world’s grip on my throat. It is hedone, the Greek root behind hedonism – pleasure for the sake of pleasure. Gratification now. In the New Testament, this word is used exclusively of physical pleasure. This is important. Jesus is not talking about pleasures of the mind, the joy of contemplation or the wonderful amazement of deep and lasting relationships. He is talking about what pleases my external senses. He is speaking about taste, touch, sight, sound and smell. When I seek those pleasures for themselves, I short-circuit spiritual growth. Why? Because the eternal law of God is that spiritual growth moves in the opposite direction from physical satiation. The reason that gluttony, sexual promiscuity, drunkenness, indulgence and other sensual sins are so terrible is not because they are extravagant excesses but because they choke out God. God created pleasure as a glorious by-product of serving Him. But anything in God’s creation can be turned on its head and be used to glorify the servant instead of the Master. Taste is wonderful. Touch delights. Smell is tantalizing. Sight exhilarates. Sound inspires. All these provide the mediums for enjoyment of the breadth and depth of the Father’s provision. All of these can become idols of gratification.
We are quite sure that we would never let this tactic of the evil one grip us. We live in moderation. Really?
• My super-sized meal satisfies my hunger. The same cost would feed a child for a week in Somalia.
• I love the feel of a silk shirt. I only paid slightly more than the cost of a water purification filter needed to prevent childhood death from diarrhea in Cameroon.
• My plastic surgeon did such a great job. The fee was just a bit more than the surgery needed to give back legs to a crippled Sudanese man.
• Wasn’t that rock concert great? Of course, the ticket would have paid for a orphan’s education in Indonesia.
• My perfume attracts his attention. Who cares that the price of my gratification would pay a schoolteacher’s salary for a month in Haiti.
But I don’t live for pleasure, do I?
