Guilty Pleasures

Ben and Jerry's Vermonster.  Häagen Dazs Pralines and Cream.  Galaxy whole nut.  Plain tortilla chips.  Thai Sweet Chili Crisps.  Salt and Pepper crisps.  An entire tub of sweet/salty popcorn to myself.

 

These, to me, are all what the world calls 'guilty pleasures'.  Things I know I shouldn't finish off in one sitting, but struggle to stop once I've started because they're too tasty.  I listened to part of a discussion today on the radio about guilty pleasures and what people indulged in which they knew they ought not to.

 

But isn't the phrase 'guilty pleasures' a bit of an oxymoron? 

 

Nigella Lawson writes,

"I don't call them guilty pleasures because I don't believe anything pleasurable should feel guilty."

 

Well said Nigella.

 

If something is pleasing or 'pleasurable' and enjoyable, why should we feel guilty?

 

I think sometimes we can feel guilty because we have a misconception about God: we think that He is a spoilsport who frowns on what we see as 'fun'.  We don't think He has a sense of humour and imagine that He is only interested in the serious stuff.  He tut-tuts or looks away when we are enjoying ourselves, because we ought to be sensible and straight-laced all the time. 

 

One of the things I love about our church is how much fun we have and how much we enjoy ourselves.  And that's the way it's meant to be.  God created us to live full and fulfilling lives and part of that is enjoying the good gifts that He has given us.

 

The Bible says,

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father."

[James 1:17 NIV, emphasis mine]

 

The good things in life are from God and He gave them to us for our enjoyment.

 

The problem comes when these good gifts are abused and distorted.  When we start using people as a way to meet our own needs or to satisfy our desires.  When we can no longer say 'no' to these pleasures.  When they start to 'control' us, rather than us being in control of them.  When we really can't put down the tub of ice-cream, or put the biscuits away whilst there are still some left in the packet. 

 

You can have too much of a good thing.  As anyone who has overeaten can probably testify.

 

That's when these things cease to be pleasurable.  They become compulsive, obsessive, addictive.  We end up with 'guilty addictions,' not 'guilty pleasures'.

 

And so the good gifts that God has given us become tainted, stained with our own dependence on them.  What was given as a good and perfect gift is ruined and reduced to something which we feel we need in order to be happy.

 

It is not God's intention for us to feel guilty about enjoying the good things in life: He gives them to us for our pleasure.  But we need to make sure that we don't become dependent on them for our happiness or our fulfilment because, ultimtely, they can't satisfy our deepest needs and desires. 

 

Only He can.