FUN, AND DISCIPLINE

Ecclesiastes 7:1-9:18; 2 Corinthians 7:8-16; Psalm 48:1-14; Proverbs 22:17-19

“So I recommend having fun, because there is nothing better for people in this world than to eat, drink, and enjoy life. That way they will experience some happiness along with all the hard work God gives them under the sun.”

“I am not sorry that I sent that severe letter to you, though I was sorry at first, for I know it was painful to you for a little while. Now I am glad I sent it, not because it hurt you, but because the pain caused you to repent and change your ways. It was the kind of sorrow God wants his people to have, so you were not harmed by us in any way. For the kind of sorrow God wants us to experience leads us away from sin and results in salvation. There’s no regret for that kind of sorrow. But worldly sorrow, which lacks repentance, results in spiritual death.”

“Listen to the words of the wise; apply your heart to my instruction. For it is good to keep these sayings in your heart and always ready on your lips. I am teaching you today—yes, you—so you will trust in the Lord.” 

Have fun! Hey, it’s Biblical. It is actually OK to enjoy friends, life, happiness and good food and drink (even the occasional “good glass of wine”), as long as we don’t lead others to sin in the process. In fact, assuming the “Teacher” can be trusted, it’s not just an option. It’s nigh unto mandatory. We need to have fun, and especially in trying times like these, we can forget that simple truth. God did not design us to be all work and no play. We are made in His image, with the capacity – and hence, the mission – to create. That’s probably why some bright person dubbed certain leisure time re-creation in the first place. Fun relaxes and restores. Fun allows us to interact without making demands. Fun keeps us from taking ourselves too seriously. Fun and laughter are some of the Great Physician’s best medicine… provided they are taken in measured doses, and we don’t lose our heads in the process.

It is an unfortunate fact of life that many of us have a tough time when it comes to keeping our “fun” within appropriate limits. (I am not suggesting fun requires artificial input or boundary bending, only recognizing the obvious fact that certain people seem to think it does at times.) Nothing in the Bible condones promiscuity, drunkenness or any of the other vices that can turn our fun into lawlessness and hurt in a heartbeat. I’ll confess crossing the line a few times myself in my younger days. I also will freely admit the aftermath always outweighed the so-called “fun” which led to it. Perhaps that’s why I consider myself blessed to have such a low tolerance for alcohol today; I just figure God was protecting me from my own lack of self-discipline when wiring me this way. However one looks at them, “morning after” migraines are a not-so-gentle reminder that our fun has gotten out of hand. One has very little dignity or self-respect left when waking up beside the toilet bowl after a long night spent “worshiping the porcelain gods.” It is SOOO NOT cool! I don’t think that’s exactly what the Lord had in mind when He commanded us not to worship idols, but in a skewed sort of way, I wonder if we don’t get to something approximating the same futile endpoint, either way.

I think our problem is we just don’t know when (or sometimes, how) to stop having fun once we let ourselves go to start.  Many of us are so starved for anything that will make us forget our plights for a few hours that we just throw caution, and discretion, to the wind. A wise man once said, “Know when you are done, and when you are, put down your brush.” While this advice specifically concerned painting, it presents a universal truth. Know when the fun is done, and then stop. God knew when He was done with His first magnificent act of Creation, and even He was smart enough to stop and rest when the time came. Christ knew when every party He attended was over – or should be – and never got caught having “one too many.” The fact that Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine for a wedding tells us he was as appreciative of a good party as the rest of us. The fact that He knew when to end the Last Supper and head to the Garden tells us even Christ had His limits and was acutely aware of them. (How tempting it must have been to consider just getting completely sloshed and ignoring His date with Judas and destiny! The alcohol might have even given Him a plausible excuse for ducking the lynch mob looking for Him. Certainly, enough other humans use the hangover excuse for avoiding unpleasant activities, like work…. But, I digress.) The point is, God gives us a perfect example of recreation: spend time with friends or doing what you love to do, but “know when to say when.” Life is still out there and must be faced.

That raises one more thing to add today. It’s so obvious it probably doesn’t even need to be said. But when has that stopped me? The final point is just this. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that can fill the emptiness in our souls with the exact fit the Holy Spirit longs to bring to us. There are, admittedly, any number of cheap substitutes. But none of them are tailor made to fill the “God-shaped void” within each of us, and if we are trying to use them to fill that space, we will inevitably end up incomplete and frustrated.

I realize it’s a bit odd to think about frolicking with the Spirit. I certainly don’t come up with any mental image that sells the idea. But when I look at Jesus – God’s model of how life should be lived and the things of this world enjoyed – I wonder if my problem isn’t just that I don’t know the Spirit well enough to be on a first name basis. After all, the guy who filled all those canisters with wine apparently knew a good party when He saw one, and didn’t want it to end prematurely. Maybe He’s more of a “Regular Joe” than I thought. And just maybe, He also enjoys watching us enjoy the world He created for us, too… within limits.