Our Pleasure is Found in Jesus

Scripture: Matthew 9:15a

And Jesus said to them, “The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they?

Insights: In today’s half of verse fifteen and the remainder of the passage we find three results of our fasting.  In other words, fasting drives us to these three outcomes.  The first one will be discussed today and that is: we find our pleasure in Jesus.  Jesus uses a wedding illustration of a bridegroom.  He asks a rhetorical question that has an obvious answer of no.  In this illustration Jesus is the bridegroom and He is with his disciples.  The reason the disciples are incapable of mourning is because Jesus is with them.  Here is the point we need to understand from this passage.  Our pleasure is found in Jesus.  As the disciples were with Jesus, they did not need to fast because they were right there with Him.  They were fully satisfied with the presence of Jesus in a very literal sense of the word.  But as we continue to read this verse tomorrow we are going to see the attendants of the bridegroom will fast once he is gone.  Again, we must ask ourselves, why?  The answer is simply because they know their complete pleasure is found in Jesus.  Now this type of thinking makes me wonder where we are as a church.  We are to truly find our pleasure and satisfaction in Jesus, but all too often I see people who are disillusioned with Him.  More often than not this disillusion is a result of the church not acting like the body of Christ in which Jesus told us we were a part.  On other occasions it is because the person is not truly walking with the Lord, but still wants all of the benefits without the relationship.  Either way, the end result is these types of people are not finding their pleasure in Jesus.  It is our job as fellow brothers and sisters in the Lord to point these individuals back to Jesus and help them find their joy in Him.  Beloved, it is my hearts desire as you seek out the Lord’s will for our church that you find you pleasure in Jesus overflowing to the full.  Be blessed in the Lord today.

Questions:

1.  In what do you find pleasure?

2.  Have you ever experienced the total satisfaction and enjoyment found in Jesus?

Prayer: Father, I do not understand myself some times.  Having experienced Your amazing love, why would I ever desire to find pleasure in the sinful trappings of this world, yet I do.  Forgive me for this rebellious heart and grow me in Your grace to where my full dependence and desire is for You.  Amen.