What Happens if We Put Pleasure Over Purpose?

Insights:

Pleasure Over Purpose

Pleasure over purpose means choosing the temporary over the eternal. It is doing what I want to do today no matter what. It is about me and my pleasure. Why do we do that? 

Some people want to blame it on our culture but if you look back far enough, you’ll see that selfishness has been around a long time. Look at Adam and Eve in the first book of the Bible. Their purpose was their relationship with God, tending to the beautiful garden where He put them, and enjoying the marriage He gave them. They had everything anyone could want. Yet, by the third chapter of Genesis, they chose pleasure by eating a piece of fruit from a tree God said was hands off. That pleasure did not line up with their purpose.

All of us are vulnerable to making the same choice every day. What is your purpose? What has God designed you to do? What gives meaning to your life and the ones you love? At the end of your life what do you want people to say, think and feel about you? At that time, most of us would want purpose. We want people to say we led a life well lived, followed God’s plan, and loved others well. We would not want a list of all the pleasures we pursued that went against our God-given purpose posted all over social media. Right?

So, if a life of purpose is our ultimate goal, then what we do today determines in some way whether we reach that goal or not. Does this mean we cannot have pleasure? No, of course not! It simply means that pleasure cannot override our purpose. If I choose something that gives me pleasure but is contradictory to my purpose, is it worth it? No. 

Bottom line: pleasure that is consistent with our purpose is awesome, but if pleasure keeps us from fulfilling our purpose, we are on a slippery downhill slope that will never get us the life and the marriage that we want. 

Next Steps For You:

  • What is your God-given purpose? 

  • Are the pleasures you are pursuing today consistent with that purpose?

  • If yes, keep on pursuing. If not, what would it take to get you on track? 

  • Why not take that first step today?

2 Minute Clip

I love that Nancy and I get to record a video each month just for our Marriage Changers. In this clip Nancy and I talk about “How to Flirt.” If you don’t know about our Marriage Changer membership, you can get more info on that HERE.

Quick Hits

This Week’s Quote: Charlton Heston

Charlton Heston was born as John Charles Carter on October 4, 1923, in Wilmette, Illinois. He was an actor and received his first Golden Globe Award nomination for playing Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956), and won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in the title role of Ben-Hur (1959).  After announcing he had Alzheimer's disease in 2002, he retired from acting. He died on April 5, 2008.

  • It's hard living up to Moses.

  • There is no duty more noble than that which has called you across the world in defense of freedom. Yours is a mission of hope and humanity for the oppressed. Rest assured that while pretend-patriots talk of supporting you, even as they condemn your noble cause, an unwavering vast majority of Americans share and take pride in your mission. You represent all that is good and right about America and are the true face of American patriotism. You walk in those same righteous footsteps of all those patriots who, before you, fought to preserve liberty for all. Our prayers and our personal gratitude are with you and your families. May God Bless You, Charlton and Lydia Heston (This message was sent to US Troops in Iraq in 2003.)

This Week’s Trivia Question:

  • 2023 marks the 49th season of Saturday Night Live. Who was SNL’s first celebrity host?

Rapid Fire Did You Know?  

  • Blue whale tongues can weigh as much as an elephant! Their hearts, meanwhile, can weigh almost a ton and need to beat just once every ten seconds.

Something To Talk About:

  • If you worked in a circus, what would your job be?

Awesome Marriage This week

This Week’s Trivia Answer:

  • George Carlin.

Kim KimberlingComment