Pleasure vs. Joy

A couple of people have asked me for the Thomas Merton quote from Sunday's message on the deadly sin of Sloth. Here it is:

"Do not look for rest in any pleasure, because you were not created for pleasure: you were created for joy. And if you do not know the difference between pleasure and spiritual joy you have not yet begun to live."

Comments

[lauren h.]

Hey Tim,
I go to Jacob's Well and I missed this sermon, but have been thinking somewhat along these lines lately. I am in the middle of a trial that has caused a kind of "breaking open" of God in myself. I am understanding the truth of Scripture much more clearly now and have found myself wondering, what kept me, as a believer, from being in this place with the Father in the past? I believe that this place with the Father was always accessible to me before, but I have come to decide that it was in the tiny, trivial pleasures of life that I let my seeking be satiated (sp?). Of course, I was never satisfied...but that is just what I let myself settle for. Whereas, with this current trial, where I am either having to face the fate that the world would offer me, or seek God's mercy in my life, I have been forced to become unsettled to the point of single-minded seeking. And I do wonder about after this trial has passed, how my new closeness with the Father will translate into a more "comfortable" life, but I expect that He will help me deal with that when we get there...
Some random thoughts :-)
Lauren

[Adam]

I'm not sure how to put any of this into actual sentences so here are the pieces.

N.T. Wright's "Surprised by Joy" suggests this is not the end. What we do here matters and what we do here carries on beyond us.

There's a quote I once saw on the back of a Chipotle cup, "If your life's work can be accomplished in your lifetime you're not thinking big enough".

Sloth seems to suggest that striving for things that don't immediately benefit me aren't worth the effort.

[Tim]

Thank you, both, Lauren and Adam. Random or not, I appreciate your reflections.