In order for our actions to count as worship, and thereby gain value for us, they need to be done with sincerity (ikhlas).  This means that they need to be for Allah's sake, or to gain His pleasure.  Yet it seems that many of our actions are motivated, at least in part, by our own desires and needs.  Does this render these actions 'insincere'?  Can we pursue certain pleasures, yet still manifest ikhlas in doing so?  We try to reconcile this issue with the benefit of selected readings from Bediuzzaman Said Nursi's Nineteenth, Twentieth and Twenty-First Flashes.