When even innocent pleasures become stained/guilty …

I still think that his booklet, Pleasures, is one of the best things Dr. Powlison has ever written.

Today I was reviewing his three broad categories of difficulties that tempt us toward guilty pleasures:

1. You are bored, lonely, with nothing to do.
2. You are stressed, frustrated and worn out.
3. You are hurt, betrayed, and treated unfairly. Perhaps you’ve lost someone or something you loved.

Any or all of these situations can tempt us to sin. We “grab for anything that will protect, soothe, comfort, or save us” because we are seeking to escape pain.

How do we know when a pleasure has become a “guilty” pleasure or a “stained” pleasure?

1. The pleasure is plainly wrong: sinful in and of itself (drunkenness, lust, outbursts of anger, gossip);

2. The pleasure captures you: you become preoccupied with it; obsess and fantasize about it; can’t wait to do it or have it … soon it doesn’t just take up mental space, it requires action-—you become compulsive about it (every time you are bored and lonely, you flip on the TV; every time you feel hurt or stressed out, you eat. It owns you. It masters you.) See 1 Cor 6:12.

3. The pleasure is hidden. This is a BIG tip-off … in and of itself, it is innocent, but still you hide it. Why? Secret garden of any sort in your life, mutant things always grow. Start out beautiful but turn ugly. No secrets before the Lord.

4. The pleasure steals you away from the good: should call your sister but you read magazines for two hours; should pay bills but you check email; eventually this affects relationships. You are distracted and edgy; you fail to love. Affects your job and your family.

5. The pleasure doesn’t deliver: Seemed to promise some sort of joy, satisfaction, refuge, or meaning—–but stained pleasures never deliver. They leave you empty, anxious, guilty, more obsessed, and vaguely unhappy.

Oh oh oh! I am grateful for the ministry of this brilliant theologian and counselor.

And I am grateful for the blood of Christ that cleanses me from all my sin!

Hoping you are enjoying innocent pleasures and true rest this weekend—

Your friend,
Tara B.