Proverbs 15:21 ESV
Folly is a joy to him who lacks sense, but a man of understanding walks straight ahead.
[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=proverbs+15%3A21&version=ESV]
Doing stupid stuff can be a blast. Sometimes this ‘stupid stuff’ is innocent, a matter of taste, thrill-seeking balanced with the rest of life. Sometimes, though, we place our own pleasure before wisdom. A life dictated by pleasures is scheduled to be a very foolish life. Folly brings ‘joy’ to the fool, but it is a false joy, limited to this life if not a shorter span, toxic to body and soul. The wise man recognizes this, and he turns from it. More, he turns to God for refuge, for aid, for, in this life and the next, eternal and ineluctable joy.
What is the difference between pleasure and ‘joy’, as I’m defining it?
First, pleasure and joy, while allied, have a difference of depth. Pleasure is a component of joy, and indeed a subcomponent, the most superficial portion. To have pleasure is fun; to have joy is to be altered. Second, they have different time scales. Pleasure comes from the now, the moment. That which brings pleasure may last, and it may continue to bring pleasure, but plenty of what brings pleasure is for the now only. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Ice-cream isn’t meant to last a long time, and the pleasure it brings, when indulged in with wisdom’s restraint, is a legitimate part of enjoying the goodness of God’s world. What is important, though, is that joy does not truly come from the ephemeral. To seek joy is to seek the long-term, the eternal (Why? Wait a moment). Third, because our natures are at their root infected with sin, we derive pleasure not just from good things, not just from God’s gifts, but from evil deeds. We derive pleasure from venting our tempers, from gossiping about each other, from all sorts of reprehensible things (and if we’re honest, we know that if our lives ran a little different, we might derive pleasure from much worse vices- adultery, murder, etc). Joy, however, cannot rise from evil. Evil brings only a counterfeit, only passing euphoria, only pleasure; true joy cannot come from doing evil.
Perhaps the better path than pure contrast is to define joy, since we already have a good idea of what ‘pleasure’ is. Joy is the emotional apprehension and experience of a state of rightness, a state where that which is within is aligned with God’s character, in response to Him, whether seen in His world, His image in man, or His self-revelation (Scripture, most commonly, and His realized presence after death). Joy is the daughter of beauty, of truth, of faith. Here on earth it is forever adulterated. We are sinful people; our regenerate hearts assure us of this, declare to us the sin we fall into, the vice we cling to (Rom. 7:15-16). We who once were dead are now alive (Rom. 6:1-4), but our perfection is not yet come.
With the final passage of Jordan, then, with the death of the physical body, we shall see the coming of true joy. God promises us the joy of His presence even in this life (Phil. 4:4-9), but in eternity we shall be no longer blinded and perverted by sin (Rev. 22:4). In eternity we shall see clearly what now we see only darkly (1 Cor. 13:12), the glory of God which Isaiah proclaims thus: “The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended” (60:19-20). This is the central blessing of eternity.
How shall we then live?
We must pursue God and His righteousness. “For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life,” warns Christ in Matthew 7:13, and this is the path we are called to. We must pursue principle above pleasure and practicality, what is right according to God’s wisdom about what seems best to our human cunning. Do not misunderstand me. We are not to deny pleasure; it is a part of joy, part of the joy of His creation. We are to take pleasure in the good things He gives us, in our relationships, in Him. To do otherwise would be wrong, for God has called us to is (Lev. 23:40). Nor are we truly disregarding practicality. The problem with the ‘practical’ option tends to be the goal. Practicality is ‘doing what works to get to a particular goal’. If our goals are wrong, as they tend to be when unconsidered, the ‘practical choice’ to get to them will also be wrong, in motivation if not substance. Make God and His righteousness your goal, however, and the path of righteousness will be the ‘practical’ choice, no matter how the world scoffs at you missing a target you weren’t aiming for.
Seek joy in Him, not in the world, not in that which withers and dies (Matt. 6:20). He is our eternal God, our salvation against our own sin (Is. 53:11-12). He is the joy which we shall have in the time to come. How else can we understand the words of Paul in Colossians : “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation…. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church…. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled…, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him” (15,17-18a,19-22)? These are words of rapture, a hymn of praise to Him, a hymn of joy which exalts not in self, as pleasure is so prone to, but in God.
God bless.
Written by Colson Potter
Sanctuary Functional Medicine, under the direction of Dr Eric Potter, IFMCP MD, provides functional medicine services to Nashville, Middle Tennessee and beyond. We frequently treat patients from Kentucky, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, Ohio, Indiana, and more... offering the hope of healthier more abundant lives to those with chronic illness.
