AVOCADO JOY

AVOCADO JOY

Song 5:1 I have come to my garden, my sister, my spouse;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice;
I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey;
I have drunk my wine with my milk.
Eat, O friends!
Drink, yes, drink deeply,
O beloved ones!
It may come as a surprise to some, but one of the things I have learned from our Puritan fathers is that there is no such thing as spiritual moderation. Now before you get too carried away, I said spiritual moderation. I am not talking about drunkenness and carnal living, I am talking about spiritual enjoyments. Many people have judged the Puritans as being too harsh and judgmental but nothing could be farther from the truth. The Puritans knew all about joy, they just believed we could pursue joy in God rather than in the misguided pursuits of this evil age. Jonathan Edwards taught that we cannot over indulge in pursuing Godly joy. We can delight ourselves in the fatness of our Father’s house. Here is something Edwards said about delighting in God.

“When the saints shall see Christ’s glory and exaltation in heaven, it will indeed possess their hearts with the greater admiration and adoring respect, but will not awe them into any separation, but will serve only to heighten their surprise and joy, when they find Christ condescending to admit them to such intimate access, and so freely and fully communicating himself to them. So that if we choose Christ for our friend and portion, we shall hereafter be so received to him, that there shall be nothing to hinder the fullest enjoyment of him, to the satisfying the utmost cravings of our souls. We may take our full swing at gratifying our spiritual appetite after these holy pleasures. Christ will then say, as in Cant. v. 1. “Eat, O friends, drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.” And this shall be our entertainment to all eternity! There shall never be any end of this happiness, or any thing to interrupt our enjoyment of it, or in the least to molest us in it!”

You see, Edwards had his attention and his affections on the heavenly realm. He believed that our joy in God here is just the beginning, now we are only tasting and enjoying the edge of His ways. It’s hard to explain these things to people who have never experienced spiritual joy for themselves. How can you describe the indescribable? When I was a child I had a real hard time eating certain foods. For example, I thought I would never enjoy eating avocados. For a time in my childhood we had an avocado tree in our back yard (we lived in Puerto Rico). Every night there were avocados on our table. After watching my parents delight and devour avocados, I finally caved and tried them for myself. Today, I love avocados. What changed, I tasted them for myself. Maybe you don’t delight in spiritual things because you have never really tasted them for yourself. How can that change, start hanging around people who delight in God. Before you know it you may find another joy that you are totally unfamiliar with.