The picture of someone living a holy life has been skewed and distorted by the devil so much that even those in the church today look at a holy lifestyle as one of boredom, drudgery, and continual frustration in the denial of our flesh. Some “holiness preachers” in their zeal for righteousness have also presented to us an angry God that sits in heaven full of bitterness and wishing that His people could finally “get it right”. Because of this perspective, we believe lies and end up running from God when we encounter our frailty instead of running to Him in the midst of it.
But Jesus calls us to a radically different approach to holiness and shows us a completely different picture of the Father that we must fill our minds and hearts with. Jesus’ own experience on the earth showed us that holiness is not a call to a life of drudgery, boredom, and frustration. He showed us over and over again that His Father is so tender with us in our weakness. He presented holiness as a call to the greatest pleasure that the human heart has ever experienced.
The Psalmist tells us that because Jesus walked in righteousness, His Father gave him joy on the inside far beyond what anyone else has ever experienced. This was not because Jesus was some superhuman. He was fully human and delighted to do His Father’s will. His choices for righteousness made Him the happiest, most satisfied man alive.
“You love righteousness and hate wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
(Psalms 45:7 NKJV)
God created us to enjoy physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual pleasures. These cravings in us long to be satisfied by something complete and eternal, namely God Himself. But Satan counterfeits the true by continually laying before us two options:
- A life of pleasure out of the will of God (in sin)
- A life of drudgery and boredom in the will of God
He comes to us with this lie:
"You've got to pay the price and endure boring old God, or you can have exciting sin… You pick."
The problem with sin, the counterfeit pleasure, is that it only satisfies the deep longing for eternal pleasure for just a moment. It comes and goes so quickly, and then it defiles the spirit of the person who experienced it and diminishes their capacity to experience real pleasure. Its deceptive power is strong; the more you experience it, the more you have to have it. This is the very reason why so many believers are trapped in habitual sin today, unable to find a way of escape. They have bought into the enemy’s lies about momentary pleasure or about the drudgery of holiness, and continually run to the temporary pleasures that defile the heart.
Reaching for and living in holiness is the God-ordained way to experience the most pleasure at the greatest depth for the longest time. The greatest pleasures available to us are spiritual pleasures – they touch us at the deepest levels of our being and are superior to all other pleasures.
We experience spiritual pleasures when God reveals Himself to us. The Holy Spirit’s very occupation is to reveal the glory and the beauty of Jesus and to cause us to experience these spiritual pleasures. He longs to take the things that are of Jesus and give them to us (John 16:14). This true, lasting pleasure comes through encountering Jesus in the scripture and having His words form our actions, thoughts, and words, especially when nobody is looking.
Holiness is just about being preoccupied with the right fascination. We are far more effective in saying “no” to sin when we are pursuing these spiritual pleasures. When we realize that there is an eternal, unceasing pleasure that can be had and then even touch it just a little bit, it draws us in and we say “I’ve got to have more!” We don’t have to think that pursuing holiness is too high and lofty. God has made it so simple! We deny our flesh and run to Him when we encounter our weakness, keep our heart alive in the Word of God through fasting and prayer, and cultivate Godly friendships with people that will provoke us to love Jesus. Over time, our desires change and true pleasure begins to erupt from within us. If we don't quit, we win. Eternal pleasure and satisfaction is really that simple. Jesus, help us to really believe it and to pursue it with great endurance!
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