Having Fun
- Richard
- Nov, 21, 2014
- Today's Musings
- No Comments
As Thanksgiving and Christmas approach I see a serious change in people’s attitude. We went shopping for our food needs for the Thanksgiving holiday and there was an obvious ominous cloud hanging over the heads of the majority of the people we saw also doing shopping. The joy of the season of giving was lost in the scowls and down turned mouths….not to mention the “you are in my way” glares. The joy and the fun of the season seemed to be doomed. The shoppers and the drivers on the streets were all pushing and glaring and putting the very safety of everyone around them in jeopardy by the careless driving and texting. This morning I looked at the devotion put up by Charles Swindoll.
Having Fun
by Charles R. Swindoll
Ecclesiastes 3:4; Proverbs 17:22
The Monday Night Football broadcast team turns the Swindoll family room into a stadium on Monday nights. That’s one part of my week when all pressures shift into neutral. Even though I may shout and scream and jump and jeer, it’s a relaxing and rewarding experience I thoroughly enjoy. What’s more, it’s the same for the broadcasters and those players and the refs and those nutty fans surrounding the gridiron. They’re all having a ball!
In fact, I remember when Don Meredith was doing commentary and was interviewed, he stated that one of the reasons he retired from the Cowboys was he stopped “having fun.” He caught himself getting so all-fired serious about the game that he was no longer able to hang loose, laugh off a mistake, and look forward to that next set of downs. When the fun stopped, so did the desire, the delight, and the determination. So what did he do? He got into another phase of his specialty that allowed him to bring back the fun that had departed. He exchanged the uniform for the microphone . . . and started smiling again. Good for him! May his tribe increase!
Now, some frowning, neurotic soul is reading this and saying, “Well, somebody’s got to do the job. Life is more than fun ‘n’ games, Swindoll. Grow up and get down to business! Laughter is all right for kids, but adults, especially Christian adults, have a job to do that’s serious.”
Nobody’s going to argue that life has its demands and that being mature involves discipline and responsibility. But who says we have to get an ulcer and drive ourselves (and others!) to distraction in the process of fulfilling our God-given role? No one is less efficient or more incompetent than the person on the brink of a breakdown. He really isn’t much of an asset to society—or to the cause of Christ. And that’s not a criticism; it’s reality.
Old Solomon knew that. Remember his words of wisdom? “A joyful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit dries up the bones” (Prov. 17:22). There is no more effective safety valve in all of life than balancing the serious, somber side with frequent flashes of fun, fun, fun!
If you’re not enjoying most of your day, if you’ve stopped having fun, you’re missing more than you are contributing.
Oops, gotta go. The stadium is almost full and it’s kick-off time.
When was the last time you laughed till you cried? Did you know that a good belly laugh is a proven stress reliever?
Just as the lost don't understand the Gospel, the saved rarely understand grace.
There are few activities more exhausting and less rewarding than Christians attempting to please the people around them by maintaining impossible legalistic demands. What a tragic trap, and thousands are caught in it. When will we ever learn?
Grace has set us free!
That message streamed often through the sermons and personal testimonies of the apostle Paul.
The lost need to hear how they can go from the island of debris, filled with misery and guilt, to the land of peace and forgiveness, flowing with mercy and grace. Those bridges are built when we lovingly and patiently communicate the Gospel. You don't have to have a seminary degree. You don't have to know a lot of the religious vocabulary. In your own authentic, honest, and unguarded manner, share with people what Christ has done for you. Who knows? It may not be long before you will know the joy of leading a lost sinner from the darkness of death's dungeon across the bridge to the liberating hope of new life in Christ. Once they've arrived, release them. Release them into the magnificent freedom that grace provides. Don't smother them with a bunch of rules and regulations that put them on probation and keep them in that holding tank until they "get their lives straightened out."; Making us holy is the Spirit's work. Be faithful to dispense the Gospel to the lost and Grace to the saved. Then leave the results in the Lord's hands.