Pure Pleasure. Let me tell you right off the title was not what caught my attention, as a matter of fact, based on the title alone, I would have immediately passed it over. But when I saw that the author was Gary Thomas, I decided it would be worth a peek.
Several years ago I was given a copy of Sacred Marriage. The subtitile, What if God designed Marriage to make us Holy more than to make us Happy? Caught my attention. I found that I was in complete agreement with Mr. Thomas’ approach to marriage. Kevin was transferred out of state, as I continued to read and mark up my copy of Sacred Marriage. Like any interested spouse would, when home, Kevin would glance through the book, taking note of places I had marked, and wonder if the highlights were references to him or me. A few weeks later he asked if I was through reading it and if he could take it with him the next time he was home. That is the first time he had ever read a book on marriage. We have subsequently used his DVDs and workbooks to help mentor another couple.
All that to say, I trust Gary Thomas and his writings; however, for all the reasons he mentions in this book, I would probably never have picked up a book titled Pure Pleasure. I have been very blessed in my life and have experienced much pleasure. There are the everyday pleasures of toddler kisses, Lego creations, comforting kitchen aromas, and beautiful sunsets to the more rare high moments of cuddling my wet newborns or hiking Mt. Rainier and everything in between. But the subtitle to this book: Why Do Christians Feel So Bad About Feeling Good? Caused me to pause. I had to admit that once you get beyond the simple pleasures I did struggle with where does a Christian draw the line? If it is in our means, can we justify a nice vacation, when families all over the world are starving?
Gary deals very even handedly with the subject of pleasure. As he wraps up the first chapter he tells us,
“Prayer and fellowship are among life’s richest pleasures,
but let’s not stop there. Let us learn to fill our souls with beauty,
art, noble achievement, fine meals, rich relationships, and
soul-cleansing laughter…Let us be wary of a faith that denies these
blessings as ‘worldly’ and unfit, as though Satan rather than God had
designed them. Let us refuse to fall into the enemy’s trap of denying
ourselves God’s good pleasures so that we end up deeply vulnerable
to illicit pleasure.”
He later develops his point by quoting from The Screwtape Letters, when Screwtape reminds his charge, “Never forget that when we are dealing with any pleasure in its healthy and normal and satisfying form, we are, in a sense, on the Enemy’s ground…it is His invention, not ours.”
Gary builds his case for the importance of pleasure, recognizing what gives us pleasure, keeping it healthy, being aware of the dangers and costs, and even finding pleasure in trials. There were a couple points I felt Gary may have pushed too hard to make a scripture support, but overall I enjoyed the book. It opened my view of God and His relationship with me just a little more. Reminded me that God wants us to be full of Him, not obligations, so that we are better suited for His service.
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