Moment of Meditation: Pleasure in Death (1 Timothy 5:6)

The widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives.
(1 Timothy 5:6)

Pleasure in Death

I can't help but think of Blanche Devereaux from The Golden Girls when I read this verse. Blanche was about as feisty a woman in her late-sixties as she probably was in her twenties and thirties. Her entire life revolved around the next man that would sweep her off her feet. Not the way a Christian widow should act.

Paul is not saying that every widow should throw herself on her husband's funeral pyre after the funeral. There is still life left for them to live. Life should not revolve around the pursuit of pleasure. Your god is NOT your belly (Philippians 3:19). Life doesn't consist of getting from one pleasure to another. Life revolves around higher pursuits.

The widow who lives for pleasure has little room for God. After all, what good will pleasures do if she has no one to share them with? The God-pleasing pleasures of this life are to praise the God who created us and share our joy with everyone around us. Amen.