I’ve been thinking about pleasure and the Christian life. Pleasure is defined as “a feeling of happy satisfaction and enjoyment … and entertainment, contrasted with things done out of necessity.” For many professing Christians, delight and pleasure are often neglected—sometimes even suppressed—in the pursuit of spiritual maturity. There still is that tendency to picture spiritual maturity as something somber and devoid of pleasure.
But fun, delight, and pleasure are not antithetical to Christian spirituality. Joy is integral to the Christian life. Joy is part of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5.22). The experience of delight and pleasure in the Christian life is an expression of one’s recognition that we worship a good, good Father who delights in us and who lavishes us with his grace and goodness. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1.17 NIV).
Life itself is a gift from God. He provides everything needed to sustain life (Matthew 5.45). It is fitting to enjoy them (Ecclesiastes 5.18–19) and to give thanks (1 Timothy 4.4). And spiritual blessings abound (1 Peter 1.3–6; Ephesians 1.3-10; 1 John 3.1). How can we not find pleasure in all this? The only question is whether we acknowledge God as the true source of the things we enjoy, and give him due honor.
I do agree that leading music during worship with the goal to entertain—what some have called “worshiptainment”—is not appropriate. For the focus of worship must be the absolute worth of God. However, it does not mean that one cannot enjoy or experience pleasure in the act of worship. There is a place for pleasure in the Christian life. The Bible often describes the attitude of “fear” when one stands in the presence of God. But there also are passages that speak of joy and delight. In fact, the psalmist encourages God’s people to “take delight in the Lord” (Psalm 37.4, 23). God’s people delight in his works (Psalm 111.2) and his commandments (Psalm 112.1; 119.174).
Discussing the spiritual discipline of celebration, Dallas Willard proposes: “we dishonor God by fearing and avoiding pleasure as we do by dependence upon it or living for it.” The discipline of celebration embraces the appropriateness of pleasure with reference to the arts—poetry, music, dancing, drama, painting, sculpture, photography—as gifts from God to be enjoyed. This too may be an act of worship.
It is my pleasure to worship the King.
—Keith Y. Jainga