Twisting the Good

We are lovers of Jesus. We are followers of Christ. So we should understand that "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17). If we understand that to be true, then every good thing in our lives should be seen in that light, right? Do you have a good spouse? He or she is from God. Do you have a good job, a comfortable place to live, a loving family, a good church ... on and on? Gifts from God, all. And more. Do you enjoy a good piece of music or a good meal? That enjoyment is a gift from God. Do you married couples share some warm, pleasurable times together "knowing" each other? That is a gift from God. Do you experience joy when you accomplish something good? A gift from God. Things, people, concepts, pleasures -- all gifts from God.

If we do not think of those things as gifts from God, I suspect the problem is sin. First, it's the work of the devil to blind us to the presence and presents of God. To accomplish this, though, he has done a remarkable job of twisting the good things that God has given us into sin. I suspect you know what I mean. Christians through the ages have struggled with the concept of sex as sinful, for instance. Why? It wasn't God's idea. He gave us pleasure in sex as part of the "two-become-one" concept. It is intended to be part of what unites a married couple, part of the "pleasures" that are in God's right hand (Psa 16:11) for us to enjoy. And what have we done with it? We've misused it. We've abused it. We've taken it and run with it ... as far from God's intended use as we can get with it. We've taken it for ourselves rather than for our spouse. We've taken it for ourselves purely and sought it in whatever place we can without regard to the marriage bed. We've taken a gift intended for good and twisted it into a pernicious, pervasive sin that affects most of us. We've run so far with this sin that we have a hard time seeing the original good gift God intended it to be.

That's just an example. We've done it at every opportunity, it seems. Pleasure over good food has been twisted to gluttony. Joy in comfortable living has been twisted into greed. The wonderful delight of sexual intimacy has been twisted into sexual immorality.

But, you know that. You know humans have a sin problem. So my point is not to complain. My point is to encourage. The truth is that "In His right hand are pleasures." The truth is that Christ came to give us abundant life (John 10:10). One of the key components of the Christian life is joy (Gal 5:22; Rom 15:13; 1 Thess 5:16). God has made us for pleasure. It is Satan that has twisted them to sin. So I'm encouraging you to enjoy the pleasures God has made us for and enjoy them to the full. Sure, there are excesses and errors, but don't allow the wiles of the devil to steal from you the joys of the Lord.