We will do that… but not this month. This month, we are going to take a step backward and consider if pleasure itself is worth pursuing, whether within patriarchy or anywhere else.

If you love Scripture, the word “pleasure” most likely sets off some fairly loud alarms in your spiritual ears. The Word of God is filled with warnings against pursuing pleasure. Proverbs tells us that “He who loves pleasure will become poor” (21:17), and in the book of Ecclesiastes, we are warned that seeking pleasure is nothing but vanity: “I thought in my heart, ‘Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.’ But that also proved to be meaningless” (2:1). James condemns those who have spent a lifetime pursuing sensuality and offers us all a warning against being drawn to pleasure for pleasure’s sake: “You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter” (5:4-5).

“Hearts fattened for a day of slaughter” is an apt description of what we see all around us. In a world given over to every manner of lasciviousness, sensuality, and pursuits of pleasure, the Christian woman must be guarded against the lure of sensual pleasure, even when it is cloaked in godly language. She must be prudent, wise, and sensible. She must realize that as a woman, particularly as woman who is at home, away from the watchful eye of an employer or an officemate, she can be lured by the desire to chase after the pleasure of a moment, pulled away from the good works God has prepared for her to accomplish that day. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). How humbling it is to realize that each day God has prepared beforehand the good works we are to walk in. Such a realization should urge us to the cross, where we may find sustenance, stamina, and even the willingness to resist the urge to indulge our flesh, and find instead a zeal to pursue the good works He’s predestined for our day.

How many times have we checked our Facebook page to see who has responded to a recent status update (“Vanity, vanity, all is vanity!”)? How often have we opened a cupboard door, looking for something to pop into our mouths to enliven our spirits as the day drags on? Are we guilty, too, of pouring over catalogs and magazines, allowing our hearts to indulge in covetousness and dissatisfaction with what God has provided? Do we call Christian friends, not to build up and encourage them, but to gossip or chat away carelessly, not giving a moment of attention to God’s glory? As we move through the duties of our day, we must always be vigilant to fight the temptation to pursue pleasure rather than pursuing God.

So, to respond to the question raised earlier, “is pleasure is worth pursuing?”—the answer is absolutely, positively NO. Pursuing pleasure only feeds our fleshly man and weakens our spiritual man.

And yet, this series is all about the holiness of pleasure. So how does this work?

Quite simply, it works by faith. It works by pursuing God, who created us to experience pleasure, and then becomes Himself the giver of that pleasure. So next time, we will consider why we must walk by faith in matters having to do with good works, sensual pleasure, and the good gift of patriarchy. We will also see how pleasure itself is part of God’s benevolence and goodness toward undeserving sinners, and how it is a gift He gives to those women who serve Him, love Him, and rejoice in His perfect provisions and providence.