Pleasure and Pain

The more I think about the world, the more I realize how brilliantly and intricately everything has been crafted by God.

Think about the fact that humans experience pleasure. There are things in life that genuinely make us happy. Anything from hugging someone you love, eating a piece of chocolate cake, riding a bike down a steep hill, or singing your favorite song. There are so many things in life that bring us pleasure!

However, no matter how much pleasure we experience on this earth, it never seems to be enough to satisfy us. It only builds in us the desire for more. More happiness. More joy.

And then there's pain, suffering, anguish. Anything from the loss of a loved one to a stubbed toe. We know from suffering that things in this world are not as they ought to be. Things could get better. Things should get better.

What if God created us so that we could only experience pain and suffering? When offered an eternity in heaven, we would probably respond with complacency. You see, the only reason we desire heaven is because we've already had a small taste of 'heaven on earth.' We can only desire everlasting joy because God has given us a very real taste of temporal joy. When you take a bite of cake, you are building a category of 'joy,' which God uses to point us to him.

What if God created us so that we could only experience pleasure? When offered an eternity in heaven, we would probably pass it up. Why would you choose heaven if you were perfectly happy on earth?

God has designed us as creatures who experience both pleasure and pain. Heaven draws us because it is in God's presence that we have fullness of joy. Already knowing what partial joy is, of course we're ready to experience joy in its fullness. Heaven also draws us because God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. Not only will we have more of the good experiences in life, but we will lose all of the bad experiences.

So there you have it. Both pleasure and pain should instill in us a desire for heaven. I think that one without the other would make things very strange and difficult. Praise God for His wisdom!