It’s been a long day. You get home and want to do nothing more than veg out in front of the TV with a bowl of ice cream.
It was a late night and your alarm goes off. It’s 6 a.m. Time to go to the gym. Instead, you hit the snooze for an hour.
She made you mad again! This time it felt so good to call and tell someone all about it. But the gossip didn’t stop there. Now there’s a mess on your hands but oh, it felt good to blow off that steam.
Your boyfriend is so hot. Before you know it, one thing leads to another and the desire for pleasure in the moment trumps good sense and morality.
Whether it is....
•ice cream and TV instead of a healthy meal with the family and quality time together
•or sleep over the gym, gossip over prayer,
•or sex over purity...........
{{ one brings pleasure and one brings happiness }}
Pleasure is over when the activity ceases. True with ice cream, sleep, gossip, or sex.
Happiness lasts with satsifaction long after the choice is made!! We can choose pleasure or we can choose happiness but not always both.
Think of the last dinner filled with laughter and time with people you love. Does that shoot seratonin straight through your brain or what?! I’d say so! And much moreso than the indulgence of doing something you knew when you were doing it, wasn’t the right choice.
Think about the last gossipy drama conversation you had about someone. It may have felt good at the moment but only yucky feelings for hours following, right?!
Think about the results of that box of cookies, ice cream or sleeping in only to get further behind.....Why do we sabotage ourselves like this in one way or another?
ONE WORD —— PLEASURE.
That’s why we do it.
Reminds me of the verse where Paul says the thing I want to do I don’t do and the thing I don’t want to do I do.
Pleasure is the why behind this what:
Romans 7:14-25
14So the trouble is not with the law, for it is spiritual and good. The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin.15I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate.16But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good.17So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature.d I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22I love God’s law with all my heart. 23But there is another powere within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.
The application of this verse is very different for each of us.
What is it that you do and wish you didn’t do? Or don’t do that you wish you did?
These are typical things people deal with. The range of unhealth is extremely varied yet the cause and effect of any two of these practices are unbelievably similar. They are all pleasure driven and happiness depleting >>>>>>> withdrawal, anger fits, food disorders, sassy attitudes, drugs, too much sleep, procrastination, workaholism, depression, not thinking the best of others, being offensive or being offended, wrong thinking patterns, sex outside of marriage, unreasonable fear, anxiety, not submitting one to another....I could go on but you get the point!
You may not think of depression for example as pleasure driven, right?! But it sooooo is! Here’s how pshychologists would put it - The reason you do the things you do is because there is some pay off in it for you! Discover what that pay off is and you will discover the priority you are placing on the “pleasure” of that pay off. Then you can logically make a decisive decision to choose a different pay off hence a different practice and finally get a different result!
Here is my challenge to you:
Think of what it is that Romans 7:13-25 is describing in your life and understand that happiness is found in Romans 8 after chapter 7 is over! Chapter 7 is describing the results of seeking pleasure. But when we seek His presence and being IN THE SPIRIT instead of in the flesh dominated by our feelings, that is where joy is found.
Joy and even happiness is long lasting after the event, act, or practice is over. Pleasure ends as soon as the moment ends.
We say we want to be happy but instead we seek pleasure. Let’s isolate those things we do and ask ourselves this week “Is the pleasure worth the result?” Let’s find our strength to stop the cycle of Romans 7 by enjoying the happiness that Romans 8 brings!
I hope you will study out these two chapters and enjoy the benefits with me 📖🎉😍
Let me hear from you if you enjoy this blog. Your encouragement has meant so much! I love hearing from my readers and it means the world to know that God is helping people as I spill out what He is helping me with to others. Share it on social media and help me spread the happy 😃 Tell your story! The world needs to hear of how God has helped you find your happy!!!!
Happy Monday 😍