Pleasure Under the Sun

Pray – (1/2 minute)

Read – (2 1/2 minutes) – “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.” (Ecclesiastes 2:1)
     Passage: Psalm 72:18-19

   God gave Solomon a gift of wisdom to enable him to learn and retain everything he studied, to understand human nature and be able to discern what should be done in any situation. However, Solomon took that gift and embarked on a journey to see if a person could find meaning in life on earth, or under the sun, without God in the equation. 

One part of that journey involved Solomon deciding to see if doing things that produced pleasure could give meaning to life and satisfy the soul. Pleasure is the feeling of gratification, enjoyment, amusement and happiness. Solomon embraced a philosophy known as hedonism, which says, “Pleasure is the highest good.” In our day, it is expressed in the statement, “If it feels good, do it.” Many people in the world may not know the term, hedonism, but they live it out in their lives. Solomon explains what he did and what he found in passage following the text reading today, but he gave his overall assessment of the journey - without God in one’s life, all the pleasures of the world will prove to be meaningless and empty. Nothing will fully satisfy you until you are satisfied in Christ.

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