Confusing pleasure with happiness - I

Written by Kevin Cauley.

Have you ever finished a good book wishing there were more to the story? Have you ever watched a movie leaving the theater unsatisfied? Perhaps after a good meal you’ve wished there were more to come. Such things clearly provide us with momentary pleasure, but our desire for more belies our unhappiness. Why are we so unhappy in our society today? What are we doing wrong?

Are we confusing pleasure with happiness? Many feel that their personal happiness rests upon having one pleasurable moment after another. They reason that they simply aren’t happy unless each moment is filled with pleasure. We need to stop thinking this way and look at happiness differently. Happiness does not depend merely upon having pleasurable moments, but rather, upon whether or not we are content or satisfied with the moments that come our way. In other words, I don’t have to feel pleasure from something in order to be happy. Is this a strange concept to you?

The word “pleasure” connotes the idea of enjoyment due to momentary gratification. The word “happiness,” however, contains the idea of a prolonged state of satisfaction and contentment associated with one’s overall circumstances. We ask, “Are you happy?” and we mean by that question to know about one’s general conditions in life. We ask, “Are you pleased?” and mean whether one is satisfied with a particular item.

Happiness is a state of mind. We can be happy regardless the situation we are in. Paul said in Philippians 4:4 “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” We can control our state of mind by focusing upon happy things. Pleasure, however, is a feeling experienced in the body. The Proverbs writer said, “Whoever loves pleasure will become poor; whoever loves wine and olive oil will never be rich.” (Proverbs 21:17). The Hebrew parallel here indicates that loving pleasure is the same as loving “wine and oil,” things associated with bodily pleasure. As Christians we are to focus upon the spiritual, not the physical (Colossians 3:2).

The problem of pleasure – part 5 || More

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