Bad fun and good pleasure?

It’s not uncommon to hear non-Christians comment on how Christians “don’t have any fun” or that “God doesn’t want anyone to have fun.” In fact, you may even hear some who profess to be Christians commenting the same way!

Is it true?

Does God really not want us to have fun?

Is experiencing pleasure in life something condemned by God?

Not according to N.D. Wilson in his article, “God the Merrymaker”:

We Christians are the proclaimers of joy. We speak in this world on behalf of the One who made lightning and snowflakes and eggs. Or so we say. We say we want to be like God, and we feel we mean it. But we don’t. Not to be harsh, but if we did really mean it, we would be having a lot more fun than we are. We are made in God’s image and should strive to imitate him.

A dolphin flipping through the sun beyond the surf, a falcon in a dive, a mutt in the back of a truck, flying his tongue like a flag of joy. These all reflect the Maker more wholly than many of our endorsed thinkers, theologians, and churchgoers.

Look over our day-to-day lives. How do we parent, for example? Rules. Fears. Don’ts. “Don’t jump on the couch.” “No gluten in this house.” “Get down from that tree.” “Quiet down.” “Hold still.” We live as if God were an infinite list of negatives. In our bent way of thinking, that makes him the biggest stress-out of all.

We say that we would like to be more like God. Speak your joy. Mean it. Sing it. Do it. Push it down into your bones. Let it overflow your banks and flood the lives of others. At his right hand, there are pleasures forevermore. When we are truly like him, the same will be said of us.

While the Bible doesn’t directly take up the question, “Does God want us to have fun?” I think there’s ample insights in scripture to answer “yes” (at least, technically?) to that question. The Bible affirms that God desires His people to experience joy, which often includes moments of fun and enjoyment. This is evident in several passages:

• • Ecclesiastes 3:12-13: “So I concluded there is nothing better than to be happy and enjoy ourselves as long as we can. And people should eat and drink and enjoy the fruits of their labor, for these are gifts from God.” God’s gifts include the capacity to enjoy life’s blessings. These moments of joy and fun are part of His provision.
  • Psalm 16:11: “You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.” Joy and pleasure in God’s presence demonstrate that He values our delight, both in Him and in the good things He provides.
  • Proverbs 17:22: “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” A cheerful disposition, which often includes humor and fun, contributes to emotional and physical well-being.
  • Zechariah 8:5: “And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls at play.” This prophetic vision of restoration reflects God’s delight in the simple joys of life, such as children playing.
  • John 10:10: “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.” While this verse primarily refers to spiritual abundance, it includes the holistic well-being of enjoying life’s moments.

So yes, I think we could conclude that God really does what us to have some fun in this life.

But here’s a key problem to that whole question: many people can’t (won’t) separate in their minds the concept of fun or pleasure that doesn’t include — or at least “allow for” — sinful attitudes and behaviors (especially behaviors). Kind of like this story told by pastor Ajai Prakash about a couple who thought it would be “fun” to get away with seeing a movie while paying less:

When we sin, we often do so with the futile hope that we shall obtain the maximum amount of pleasure at the minimum penalty. It seldom works that way, however.

I once heard the story of a man and his wife who decided to go to a drive-in movie. They thought the price was too high and plotted to put one over on the management of the theater. When they were within a short distance of the drive-in, the husband climbed into the trunk of the car. The arrangement was that his wife would let him out after she was inside the theater.

All went off as planned, at least as far as getting past the ticket-seller was concerned. But when the wife got to the back of the car to let her husband out of the trunk, she discovered that he had the trunk keys in his pocket. In desperation she had to call the manager, the police, and the rescue squad. Neither saw the movie, and the trunk had to be cut open.

Such is the path of sin. The ride is short and the price is high.

Rabbi Noah Weinberg argues the desire for pleasure is natural, but there’s a way to experience fun and pleasure in life that doesn’t involve sin:

Every creature in the universe is programmed to pursue pleasure. The wolf seeks meat, the bear seeks warmth. That is an indisputable fact, and that’s the way God wants it.

Humans were created for pleasure, too. But unlike other creatures, humans have the ability to tap into their spiritual soul, and to pursue pleasure which is beyond the physical. That includes love, meaning, power, sacrifice for a cause, goodness, etc.

Weinberg’s comments come close to what we read in scripture. The fact is, when we are born again into the God’s kingdom, adopted into His family, and the Holy Spirit begins His wondrous work of transforming us, what we find to be fun and pleasurable changes, and we begin to see living life more like this:

“Doing wrong is fun for a fool, but living wisely brings pleasure to the sensible,” proverbs 10:23.

Living wisely is living in a covenant relationship with the God who created and then reconciled us. And according to pastor John Piper, writing in “Pleasures of God,” it’s that relationship that is truly the greatest source of pleasure for any human being:

“If God wants to love us infinitely and delight us fully and eternally, he must preserve for us the one thing that will satisfy us totally and eternally; namely, the presence and worth of his own glory. He alone is the source of full and lasting pleasure. Therefore, his commitment to uphold and display his glory is not vain, but virtuous. God is the one being for whom self-exaltation is an infinitely loving act.”

Do you really have to “be bad” to have fun?

Or have you discovered the richness of pleasure in knowing and serving God?

Scotty