0269. Belshazzar in Life: (A) He Was a Pleasure Seeker

Belshazzar in Life: (A) He Was a Pleasure Seeker

"Belshazzar the king made a great feast to a thousand of his lords, and drank wine before the thousand" (Dan_5:1).

Belshazzar was feasting when he should have been fasting. He must have been a man of low ideals to "feast" in such an hour. Beyond a doubt he was one of those who loved pleasure. His whole conception of life was summed up in "eat, drink and be merry."

For very shame–feasting when his kingdom was in danger of overthrow.

The "pleasure seeker" is one who makes pleasure his chief aim. There are some things that need to be said to such. Hear this, ye that are given to pleasure!

1. Pleasure chokes the Word of God and hinders it from taking root in the life. "And that (the seed, the Word of God) which fell among thorns are they, which when they have heard, go forth, and are choked by cares and riches and the pleasures of this life" (Luk_8:14).

2. Pleasure is a vain and empty thing. "I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth, therefore enjoy pleasure:" "And behold this also is vanity."

Pleasure seekers are never satisfied. Many of them, like Solomon can even say–"Therefore I hated my life." After all, Solomon was right: "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to the place of feasting."

3. Pleasure seekers are under the wrath of God. "Go to now ye rich men, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming upon you; * * ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton" (Jam_5:1-2).

At Pompeii, the residents were given over unto the pleasures of this life, until Mount Vesuvius belched forth its lava and fire and smoke, and buried them under its wrath–a picture of the judgments of God that await a world given to frivolity and sin.

4. Pleasure seekers are dead in their sins. "She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth."

Beware ye pleasure lovers. The hardest one to reach for God is the one who is deluged in pleasures. The publican and the harlot, the drunkard and the libertine go into the Kingdom of God before you, ye lovers of the world.

Beware, ye pleasure lovers. You are so engrossed with your rush of gaities that you cannot hear the voice of God.

Illustration: In New York city at the noon hour we stopped to listen to the chimes from some church steeple as they filled the air with "Nearer my God to Thee, nearer to Thee." Then we watched the people. The surging masses were so intent upon their earthward quests, that great multitudes passed by, without even knowing that the chimes, in the tower above their heads, were sounding. Even so do the pleasures of this world drown the voice of God.

Autor: R.E. NEIGHBOUR