Some people have a strange definition of pleasure.

Some think it’s fun to run a 26-mile marathon. Some enjoy playing football, an impact sport where you’re lucky when you walk away with just a few bruises. Some enjoy cliff diving, boxing, getting tattoos, and so on.

Is this what Paul is speaking of? The actual feeling of joy or pleasure while feeling weakness or pain? Probably not. There is no record of Paul bursting out laughing or demonstrating emotional joy while suffering. Instead, the Scriptures illustrate that his heart was resolute. He remained focused on the God who called him and on God’s ability to save.

Perhaps Paul’s definition of “pleasure” here was less about joyous enthusiasm than it was about a deep sense of contentment, safety, and purpose. No matter how much suffering he endured, he found pleasure that it drove him into God’s strong waiting arms.

If we have the right attitude, the enemy can’t use any life circumstance, either abundance or suffering, to defeat us.

Paul expanded his idea of pleasure beyond what made him outwardly emotional. Whatever it took to lead him to God was the path to true joy. We could all benefit from adopting this attitude.