Jasen i kinda disagree with your response when u say: ” And the things of God are NOT repeating endless prayers, performing mechanical rituals, or sitting through meaningless church services. That’s why it’s incredibly hard to believe sometimes that the things of God are to be enjoyed, especially when people have never experienced the true joy of living out part of God’s purpose for us.”

The bible says to ‘pray without ceasing’ and what could that mean but endless prayer? Remember even Karate kid had to perform some mechanical rituals that the Master knew he needed to perform to make him the skilled fighter he needed to be… its like ‘read ur bible and pray every morning and night’ because when u do that u dont go to bed watching a risque late night movie and get ur mind all screwed up and thinking and doing things u shouldn’t. Church services r real meaningful. David who God declared was after his own heart couldn’t wait to go to the temple, and he says in the psalms. ‘ I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. When shall i go to meet my God.’ Its like meeting your girlfriend and boyfriend ( assuming u both are gaga for each other) u just keep on talking about nothing and stalling just to be with each, u just enjoy being around each other its like some how its sooooo good for ur heart, (may be not for your grades )
The things of God will not appeal to the flesh but they give u real and lasting joy once u learn how to enjoy God because he can only be enjoyed in the spirit. Paul says the carnal man cannot receive spiritual things because they r spiritually discerned. God is indeed to be enjoyed but it is to be done in the spirit because we r children of God who enjoy he eternal pleasures that r at God’s right hand.
God must still be sought the old fashioned way, on your knees and face, but remember God invented pleasure and when ur spirit becomes familiar with the presence of God u will find pleasure in everything because u will be filled with a Holy joy that is present both in the presence and absence of your friends and your other pleasures. For every temporal pleasure there is a spiritual complement and far better too, wether friends, relationships, material, fame, esteem, position etc.
God is Spirit, the being of God is All pleasurable because God is Love and there is nothing in love that does not please for love brings joy and acceptance. So all music, sensation, laughter, play, wit, good company are embodied in this one Spirit God and the more we know him the more he fills our heart with the most surreal pleasurable joy.
I have quoted a lot of scripture without explicitly putting the address 4 readability but all the statements i made are biblical.
Well i hope this makes some sense. Thanks JG. God bless u.

I love that you had the courage to tackle such a heavy topic. Of course, all glory to God for even giving you that specific courage, to write this specific blog post. I can’t say I’ve been given that kind of courage. In just the same way, God has laid out that we ALL have a purpose. And the reason? I believe it’s just the fact that we have been allowed to live, for some appreciable amount of time on this earth with access to specific resources (I’m referring mostly to Westerners here).

I believe purpose is entirely intertwined with pleasure, as expressed in the answer to the “chief end” question. We are told there’s absolutely nothing wrong with enjoyment in this life, as long as they are the things of God. And the things of God are NOT repeating endless prayers, performing mechanical rituals, or sitting through meaningless church services. That’s why it’s incredibly hard to believe sometimes that the things of God are to be enjoyed, especially when people have never experienced the true joy of living out part of God’s purpose for us. Actually many of us probably have, we probably just assumed those things were not of God–because we all think serving God should always be some sort of painful sacrifice. I counter that while yes, Clubber Lang’s prediction was right, there is going to be some pain, a loving God will turn His path for us into something enjoyable, at least over the long term and definitely upon reflection.

I’m gonna cut myself off very soon, but the bottom line is that I wish God would act in the way He has in some of us, where we can lock on to what we have discerned to be our purpose in life, and derive pleasure from the pursuit of that purpose alone. Too often, the pursuit of pleasure turns into purpose, rather than the other way around. There’s a reason “to glorify God” comes before “to enjoy him forever.” And you can’t just choose to live your life that way. God has to act in your heart first, and that’s why I can’t fault anyone who seems to not yet be aware of their purpose, nor can I ever think at all highly of myself for thinking that I just might have found mine. Because I didn’t really find anything. It was shoved in my face.

Who would give a man a fish, when he can teach him to fish. And who would give a man earthly bread, knowing that he will only hunger again, when he can give him the Bread of Life?