Abundant Life

There is, I believe, a god that many people have without realizing it. I did. I think this god is a huge threat especially to young people, even more specifically Christian young people. This god, like every other one, is something innocent and legitimate that we control, but when left unsupervised it slowly controls too much of us. We become addicted to it.

Fun.

The dictionary defines fun as something that provides amusement or enjoyment, laughing, life, entertainment. We want to live a little. Fun, to me, is anything that makes me feel alive. Something invigorating. Something that makes me feel fulfilled. Isn't that what we all want?

Sometimes Christianity doesn't fit in very well with our yearning to have fun. Following God omits a significant amount of "fun" stuff, telling God that He can have everything means giving up some enjoyment. It means passing up that beer when everyone else is drinking and laughing. It means not flirting with that woman. It means not watching that movie that is really funny but you know the humor is inappropriate. It means not going to that unscrupulous company party. It means not giving away your virginity before marriage. It means not joining in that gossip. It means not wearing that attention-getting outfit. It means not using that swear word even though it would make the joke so much funnier. So we feel like we have to choose. Focus on ourselves and have fun or serve God? I'm afraid that too often we choose the former. For many people the roadblock to the Cross is not unbelief in God or anger at God, but a longing for something that they believe He will take - fun.
Even as Christians, I think that sometimes we hold back...just a little. Maybe not in something specific, but in the back of our mind we don't want to let God have it all because He just might take our fun away. And the battle can be intense.

So, is it an either/or matter? Either we enjoy ourselves or we take the straight and narrow and settle for a life of tedium? Is it true that the closer you get to God, the less you enjoy yourself? As if a little of your personality dies as you draw closer to Him?

We are created in God's image. You have personality because God has personality. You love to laugh because God created you to laugh. You want to feel alive because God made you that way. Jesus was not a kill-joy, read about His life, He brought joy to a rigid, hopeless and joy-less generation.

Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. (Ps. 37:4) Delighting yourself in the Lord...it doesn't say simply serving God, or even obeying God's rules, it uses the word "delight". So I have to believe that God doesn't intend Christianity to just be some awful way of life that we submit to in order to avoid hell. John 10:10 "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly." It's enjoying the fullness of life through a relationship with Christ. Now to say that God is "fun" would be cheapening Him, but in Him you can be delighted, fulfilled and feel the most alive. Jesus came to bring abundant life. Also, the desires that we have are God-given and are meant to be fulfilled through Him and in His way. "All sin is a warped attempt to meet a God-given need." (Richard Miles) God created in us a NEED to enjoy life, thus, He created a proper way to fulfill it. This verse doesn't mean, however, that if we are Christians that we will get whatever we want and everything will be pleasant. (I'm not Joel Osteen)

Another disclaimer, this doesn't mean that if you aren't a Christian that you will be miserable or that sin ISN'T "fun". Hebrews 11:25 talks about the "pleasures of sin for a season." Sin is pleasurable for a season. That season could be 2 weeks or 40 years, but in the end it will leave you empty and nothing can compare to a life lived the way it was meant to be lived.

Seek fun first and you will be sorely disappointed, but seek God first and you will have abundant life.