The Daily CHEW™
Moving God’s Love from Head to Heart for Christian Professionals
Why This Matters for You
If Enjoyment is one of your strongest drivers, you’re built to savor life. You notice beauty other people walk right past. You can turn an ordinary evening into something memorable. You bring lightness into heavy rooms and remind tired people that life is still good. That is a real gift, and the people around you are better for it.
The trouble starts when delight stops being something you receive and becomes something you have to chase. Pleasure that was meant to point you to God starts to function as God. You reach for the next good feeling to outrun boredom, stress, or pain. The hit fades fast, so you reach again. The same capacity that makes you fun and alive can quietly turn into restlessness, escape, and an appetite that never settles.
This is not a flaw to apologize for. It is a strength to steward. The goal is not to feel guilty for enjoying things. The goal is to let God be the source of your joy, so your pleasures become gifts you receive instead of gods you serve.
The First-Thought Test
You can usually tell where your heart is by your first reaction, before you have time to manage it. When life gets hard, dull, or uncomfortable, what is the very first thing you reach for? See if any of these sound familiar:
- “I deserve a treat after the day I had.”
- “If this stops being fun, I’m out.”
- “I can’t sit with this discomfort—I need something to take the edge off.”
- “Boredom feels almost unbearable.”
- “A life without constant pleasure isn’t worth much.”
- “I’ll deal with it later; right now I just want to feel good.”
- “The anticipation is better than the thing itself—so I keep chasing the next one.”
Notice what those thoughts quietly assume: that comfort is owed to you, that discomfort must be escaped immediately, and that a good life is measured by how good it feels right now. Often they braid into one driving sentence: “To be okay, I must feel good—because if life isn’t pleasurable, it isn’t worth living.” That sentence is exhausting precisely because no pleasure can carry that weight for long.
Treat It Like a Dashboard Light
When the craving for the next good feeling spikes—the urge to escape, numb, or chase—don’t treat it as proof you’re shallow. Treat it like a dashboard light. A warning light on your car isn’t an accusation; it’s information. It tells you something under the hood needs attention. That restless pull toward pleasure is the same kind of signal. It is not telling you that joy is bad. It is telling you that, in this moment, you’re asking a created thing to do what only the Creator can do.
That reframe changes everything. Instead of indulging on autopilot or beating yourself up afterward, you read the light and respond. You let the craving point you past the gift to the Giver. The goal isn’t to kill your capacity for delight. The goal is to know what the craving means and where to take it.
The Gift and the Distortion
Your Enjoyment driver is a gift before it is ever a problem. God made a world full of good things and gave you the capacity to delight in them. When that capacity is rooted in Him rather than running on empty, here is what people get from you:
- You bring life into the room. You lift the mood, ease the tension, and help people breathe again. Heavy spaces get lighter when you show up.
- You see the good. You notice beauty, humor, and gladness that others miss, and you call it out so people don’t take it for granted.
- You help people rest. You give others permission to stop grinding and actually enjoy the gift in front of them.
- You can feel deeply and still stay faithful. This is the surprise. When God is the source of your joy, you can savor pleasure without being ruled by it—and you can walk through a dry, hard season without falling apart, because your joy was never riding on the circumstances.
Read that list again. That is not a personality you need to apologize for. That is a heart God can use to make His goodness tangible to tired people—and the people around you are better for it.
The distortion is simply the same gift cut off from its Source. When pleasure becomes the thing that saves you, delight curdles into appetite. You numb instead of feel. You escape instead of face. You need more and more to get the same lift, and you avoid anything hard or boring. The gift is still there—it has just been bent inward, asking a fading pleasure to be God for you.
What Scripture Says
Scripture does not scold you for loving good things. It tells you where real, lasting joy actually lives. “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” (Psalm 16:11, ESV). The fullness your heart keeps chasing isn’t found in the next pleasure. It’s found in God’s presence—and there it doesn’t fade.
And the good things you enjoy aren’t the enemy; they’re meant to be received with thanks: “Everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving” (1 Timothy 4:4, ESV). Gratitude is the difference between a gift and an idol. When this truth moves from your head to your heart, you stop demanding from pleasures what only God’s presence can give.
Four Moves When the Light Comes On
When the craving to chase or escape spikes, you don’t have to be swept along by it. Here are four moves to make in the moment.
- Name it. Say to yourself plainly: “My Enjoyment driver just lit up. This is a signal, not a command.” Naming it breaks its grip and gives you a half-step of room to choose.
- Trace it. Ask: “What am I actually trying to avoid or fill right now—boredom, stress, pain, emptiness?” Get under the craving to the real ache. You can’t bring to God what you won’t name.
- Take it to God. Before you reach for the thing, bring the ache to Him. “In Your presence is fullness of joy. I don’t have to chase what only You can give.” Let His presence—not the next hit—settle you first.
- Then enjoy, free. Now you can receive the good thing as a gift with thanks—or set it down without panic. Either way, the pleasure is no longer your master, so you can savor it without being ruled by it.
What Growth Actually Looks Like
Don’t expect your love of good things to disappear. That isn’t the goal, and it isn’t health. The goal is that pleasure stops running the show. Here’s what maturing in this area actually looks like over time:
- You can sit with boredom or discomfort without immediately reaching for an escape.
- You enjoy a good thing fully, then set it down without needing more.
- Gratitude shows up before the craving does.
- A hard or dry season doesn’t wreck you, because your joy isn’t riding on circumstances.
- You can say no to a pleasure without feeling deprived.
- Your delight points other people to God instead of just to the next good time.
- When the dashboard light comes on, you recognize it faster and return to God sooner.
That is the aim: not a leader who stops enjoying life, but a leader whose joy is anchored in God and freely shared with everyone around him.
A Moment of Worship
Father, every good thing I love came from Your hand, and in Your presence is the fullness of joy my heart keeps chasing everywhere else. Forgive me for asking fading pleasures to be for me what only You can be. Move this truth from my head to my heart today, so that I receive Your gifts with thanks and find my deepest joy in You. Amen.
Take the Next Step
If you recognized yourself in this—if you keep chasing the next good feeling to outrun what’s underneath—you don’t have to untangle it alone. This is exactly the kind of work I do with Christian leaders and professionals: moving God’s joy from the head to the heart so it actually changes how you live, lead, and rest.
Reach out directly and let’s talk about where you’re chasing joy and how to root it back in God’s presence:
Email: ryan@ryancbailey.com
Call: (404) 421-8120
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