What's In It for Me?

When you try to force a square peg into a round hole, which finds it more comfortable?

When you try to force a square peg into a round hole, which benefits more?

Doesn't it harm both?

Do you believe that God created you? Do you believe God is great and good and loving and powerful? Then isn't it just possible that God did a good job in your creation, and that God has a pretty powerful and good will for you?

How does it serve God, or you, or anyone else, for you to be miserable? Isn't it just possible that there is a hole the perfectly fits the peg your are, and that you are resisting God's will, and hurting yourself and others by persisting in a life that makes you miserable?

The first week I was pastoring I felt guilty because I was enjoying myself so much! All my training had me convinced, emotionally at least, that God's will couldn't possibly be fun, that if I was enjoying myself I must be out of the will of God!

I'm still waiting for somebody to show me where that is in the Bible.

What if God, in creating you, revealed his will for you in the deepest desires of your heart? What if you can recognize God's will by what gives you the greatest joy?

When I studied ethics in college, I learned that hedonism makes a pretty good ethic, if it's applied properly. Follow me on this: hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure. But what is the greater pleasure, a long happy life, or an orgy of delight ending in premature death? Hedonism, properly applied, teaches that moderation in all things actually brings the greatest pleasure; that being a good neighbor will bring greater pleasure, being a good citizen, being a good spouse, being a good parent, even if, in the short run, they might bring some temporary discomfort.

Do you like to exercise? I don't. I love to eat what I want, when I want. I love to stay up late reading or watching my favorite movies, and sleeping without an alarm clock, getting up when I wake up. But I don't like being overweight. I don't like how I look or how I feel when I'm 30 pounds above where I should be. I don't like how I feel when I've sat around all day and accomplished nothing because I slept until nearly noon.

So hedonism teaches me that I'll be happier if I endure the discomfort, the displeasure, of exercise now, of an intelligent diet now, of a disciplined sleep schedule now, so that I may live a longer, healthier, happier, more fulfilled life.

One more illustration: The last five years I pastored, what kept me sane was singing with a fine organization, The Tara Choral Guild. For two hours every Tuesday night, I would sit in rehearsal working on very difficult music, shooting for perfection. I was frequently nervous, not entirely sure I was up to the challenge!

One spring we did Mozart's Requiem. I swear, I was still making mistakes in the performance. I never did get that thing to perfection. But my wife says it was the finest performace we gave in the years I was in the Guild. And I'm very proud of that performance, prouder of many easier things I probably performed better.

Spending that time weekly with fine musicians struggling for excellence was some of the greatest therapy I ever knew. The pursuit of excellence is not exhausting, it's exhilirating!

We sang in one of the finest auditoriums in the world, Spivey Hall on the campus of Clayton State College in Morrow, Georgia. But we had some problems with the staff at Spivey at that concert, and we decided not to sing there again. We decided we'd find some accomodating church who would let us use their auditorium. After working so hard on the Mozart, the guild decided not to do anything new the next season; they chose instead to pull out some things we already knew, and to take it easy for our next concert.

That's when I quit the Tara Choral Guild. As long as we were striving for excellence, I found great joy and healing in singing with them. But then they chose mediocre church music over excellence, well, I had better things to do with my Tuesday evenings. In the last years of my burnout with church work, I said, "We do mediocre church music here every Sunday! I don't need the Tara Choral Guild for that."

Do you get the point?