We must find our joy in God’s joy, our happiness in His happiness. Human beings are forever trying to achieve these legitimate states of being through illegitimate means. This is perhaps one of the more profoundly accurate definitions of sin.

We dig our own wells, ignoring the one true Well, and drink deeply of the poisoned water we bring up from its depths. That water kills us if we drink enough of it. These false wells may provide pleasure for a season but the pleasure never lasts. The “happiness” of sin is always temporary (and its following misery potentially long lasting) if we are foolish enough to continue in it. What the errant “well-digger” needs to realize is that only through sharing in the joy and happiness of the holiness of God does he or she tap into what is real and not an illusion.

Sinful pleasure does not come out of nowhere. It is a counterfeit of the real thing, a twisting of something that is inherently good. Our Lord does not object to pleasure. He invented it. He does not object to joy. He is its source. True happiness is the gift of God. When His children seek and find Him they will also find the kind of pleasure that leaves no regret, a clean and holy pleasure. We who love Him are destined to share in His joy.

It is indeed a tragic thing when Christians join the world in the indulgence of illegitimate pleasure, but it is also tragic when Christians decide that all intense pleasure must somehow be the kind that Satan promotes. When we allow ourselves to enjoy innocent delight we are actually blessing the Lord of delight. Moreover, we are obeying His will for He wills that His children enjoy good things. Whether it is in the celebration of a wedding, the joy of children’s play, or the artistic creation of beauty we are living out part of the abundant life Christ promised us when we enjoy these things and He is not only happy to give them but also happy to participate with us in them.

The term “holy pleasure” is not an oxymoron. In fact it is descriptive of one of the greatest blessings human beings can receive. It is the only kind of pleasure that satisfies because it bears God’s stamp of approval. The radical ascetic’s total rejection of such pleasure is not of God, but of the Devil. Denying the legitimacy of such a blessing, and the joy and happiness it brings, is a lie. It may sound pious but it is a lie nonetheless.

The Bible tells us that someday we will fully enter the happiness of our Master. That is a profoundly accurate description of Heaven. Yet even in this fallen world there is the potential for experiencing some of that happiness, if only through a glass darkly. Though we still imperfectly walk in His ways in this place and time He still grants us blessed glimpses of our true home. Such is the generosity of a perfectly loving God.