Pleasure and Joy 

   “Pleasure is of the body; joy is of the mind and the heart …. You can quickly become tired of pleasures, but you will never tire of joys.” (“Preface to Religion,” Archbishop Fulton Sheen) 

   Many  people find a lot of pleasure in the world, but few find true joy.  Pleasures are often earthly and even sinful, attempts by Satan to draw us away from God.  But joy is spiritual; it is a gift of God.  Pleasures will fade, while joy in the Lord will always increase.

   Like most people I’ve had many pleasures in this life, but they don’t last.  They become routine if overused and quickly fade, losing what little pleasure they had seemed to bring.  Pleasures can also be the work of Satan, offering material and earthly happiness often steeped is sin.

   What I’ve learned in life is that there is only one source for joy and that is faith in God.  The joy and peace that He gives is eternal and will never fade unless we choose to walk away from it.  Sadly, some become so entrenched in the earthly that they can’t or won’t give them up, even for the pure joy God wishes them to have.

   Though some are sinful right from the start, taking pleasure in some earthly things is not always wrong.  In fact many of those pleasures are from God.  However, they become a problem and sinful when they become more important than the One who has given them.  They then become a trap and we become enslaved to them.

   Joy is all encompassing.  There is no pleasure in pain or suffering, but if seen through the eyes of faith even these can have an unexplainable joy in them.  When we can face whatever comes with the joy and expectation of what is to come when we trust in God we will begin to know true joy, the joy of fellowship with our Lord.