Live Free with Josh Howerton - More is Not Enough | Ep. 357 | Tuesday, June 18, 2024

Episode Date: June 18, 2024

Do you find yourself a slave to pleasure? The problem with your appetite is that it never ends! Solomon had access to it all, but it was never enough. Surrendering our appetites and trusting God with them is the only way to find freedom from the bottomless pit of pleasure-seeking. For more information, visit lakepointe.church/dailydrive

Thanks for tuning in to today's Daily Drive with Lake Point Church, a daily dose of God's Word for your morning drive. When the word, not the world, becomes the majority of your week, your life will start to change. For that reason, our prayer is that God will speak to you through today's devotional. For more digital content to feed your faith, visit lakepoint.comit. And now let's dive in to today's devotional. What is up, everybody? This is the Daily Drive, and I'm Mike Bro. Together, we are looking at five easy ways to wreck your life. We're diving into a journal written by a powerful, wealthy king named Solomon is called the Book of Eccastes. It is contained in the Old Testament of the Bible. And we gave some context and background yesterday, so if you missed some of that, you might want to go back and catch it. But today we're going to look at Solomon's first insight on how to wreck your life. He says, so you want to wreck your life, here's how you do it. Let pleasure drive you. Let pleasure drive you.

Ecclesiastes chapter two, he says, I said to myself, come on, let's try pleasure. Let's just look for the quote-unquote good things in life. He says, I'm just going to let the pursuit of pleasure drive my life. I'm going to let my impulses, my self-centered desires. I'm going to let my appetites just guide my every step. I may have given you these insights about appetites that I got from Anteastern, Stanley years ago. But here are a few truths about our appetites. Number one is this. Appetites were created by God

and distorted by sin. Appetites were created by God, but distorted by sin. We were all made in the image of God, and he wired us up with healthy desires. The desire to be loved is a good thing. The desire to achieve is a good thing. Sexual desire. It's a good thing. To create is a good thing. To compete and win is a good thing. To want more responsibility is a good thing. God created our appetites. But sin distort it then. When we walk with God and we do life his way, all of those desires can be expressed in a very healthy way. But when we take life into our own hands and live like there is no God, then those desires become totally self-centered and almost become insatiable. Which is the second thing about appetites? Appetites will never fully and finally be satisfied. Appetize will never

be fully and finally satisfied, no matter how much you achieve, how much you accumulate, how much praise you receive. You always want what? Yeah, more. You get an award. You want more. You get a raise at work. You want more. And pretty soon you want just more everything. I thought about this the other night while eating at a great new restaurant. I just polished off like my enormous burger and then half a Debbie's meal. And I said, man, that was so good. I am so stuffed. You know what? I may never eat again. You all ever say that? And then the server comes by with that dessert tray and says, hey, can I interest anybody in some dessert? And I'm thinking, huh, let me see that. Perhaps I could manage a little more.

We always think there's room for just a little more, and we live as if there is something out there that will finally make us go, oh, no, that's it, that's it, that's enough. That finally will satisfy my appetite. Beganga does not exist. There's only one word in the vocabulary of our appetites, and that word is more. And have you also noticed that appetites always scream right now?

now, never later. You're hepatites and mind scream right now. Come on, man, you've got to move on this now. You've got to grab this now, feel this now, taste this now, drink this now, watch this now. You've got to chase this now, experience this now. And our reaction to that voice will determine the direction of our life, which leads me to a fourth personal observation.

Instant gratification is a terrible life coach. You've heard that term, right, life coach? There are people who make it their career to coach people. through life. It's kind of cool that God wires some of us up to come alongside other people and help them navigate through major career decisions and financial stuff and family stuff to mentor and to give some wise and godly wisdom for the journey. Now, if you were in the process of looking for a mentor or you're considering maybe hiring a life coach, Solomon would say this. Let me give you a heads up. When instant gratification applies for the job, don't bring it in for a second interview.

It has a terrible resume. It's ruined more lives led more people astray than any other thing that I know. I mean, more families have been wrecked, because somebody could not control their appetite for more. They let their thirst for instant gratification lead their life. So Solomon says, I said to myself, come on, let's try pleasure. Let's look for the good things in life. But I found that this too was Habel, meaningless, quickly vanishing,

will not sustain any joy, purpose, or meaning. So Solomon goes on. He says, so I said, you know, laughter, oh, that's silly, what good does it do to seek pleasure? Now, I love the laugh. I love the joke. I love to play practical jokes and other people. I love listening to comedians. I like funny movies.

I'll be reading a book and just laugh out loud and then look around and see everybody heard me laughing, right? I love the laugh. But you know as well as I do this. Sometimes laughter has a way of masking, doesn't it? sometimes the life of the party type of person is in reality attention starve and very lonely in the depths of their soul. I heard about a young guy who went to a counselor about some depression issues at the end of the session. The doctor said, hey, man, I got two tickets to this comedy club.

A friend told me about this comedian who's in town who's just hilarious. Why don't you go with me tonight? I think it would be good for you to laugh. There was a long pause and the young guy said, I am that comedian. So Solomon writes, I tried surface laughter, but it was all just an act. Verse three, after much thought, I decided to cheer myself with wine, and while still seeking wisdom, I clutched at foolishness. In this way, I tried to experience the only happiness most people find during their brief life in this world. I mean, Solomon was a party animal,

and with his cash, he could throw huge parties. He'd say, send out invitations, come on up to the palace. We got Monday night football on 10 different 4K LED 100-inch flat screens. We cooked a pig in the ground. We got some beer on ice. All my rowdy friends are coming over tonight. That was Solomon's invitations. And way too many of us could have written the words that he wrote. We tried to escape. We tied up our boat in a party cove, and we lifted our red solo cup, and we tried to fill up that hole in our heart with the crazy party life, and we found out, man, it's a square peg in a round hole. And maybe if you were really honest, you would say it actually only brought deeper frustration and an addiction that has

wrecked my life. So let's just put a pen in it right here, and let's pick this up tomorrow, but perhaps we could begin this day by praying, Father, I surrender my appetites to you today. I will find deep satisfaction in walking with you. I'll see you back tomorrow. Have a great day. Thanks for tuning in today. For more biblical teaching and worship, join us for our church online live weekend services

on Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 9.30 and 11 a.m. Central Standard Time. For more information, visit lakepoint. com.com. Church slash daily drive.