Fun

Fun is uninhibited spontaneity. Worldly people live to have fun. Some make it their chief ambition in life. People drink or take drugs to get rid of their inhibitions or escape from dismal realities of their natural life. Many think that Christians can’t have any fun because their rules keep them from being spontaneous and their religion makes them feel inhibited. That is a false understanding of our relationship with God as David demonstrated.

David was bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem and his joy was so great that he was leaping and dancing before the Lord (2 Sam. 6:16). This uninhibited spontaneity caused Michal the daughter of Saul to despise him in her heart. She said to David, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today” (vs. 20). David was not acting properly according to protocol, because he didn’t have the typical inhibitions that plague those who are more concerned about what other think than what God thinks. God judged Michal not David (vs. 23).

David was dancing before the Lord. It didn’t bother him that he was undignified in Michal’s eyes. He didn’t even care if he was humiliated in his own eyes (vs. 22). He was having fun in the presence of the Lord. Life will be a lot more fun if we can rid ourselves of unscriptural inhibitors. Chief among the inhibitors of Christian fun is our carnal tendency to keep up appearances. We don’t want to look out of place or be thought less of by others, so we stifle our inhibitions and spontaneity with a form of false decorum. That is people pleasing, and Paul said that anybody who lives to please people is not a bondservant of Christ (Galatians 1:10). Liberated Christians don’t play for the grandstand; they play for the coach.

Too many Christians are sound in the faith but sour in the face. They claim to have the joy of the Lord, but you would never guess it by their countenance. Having fun in the presence of God is living with enthusiasm. Enthusiasm means in (en) God (theos). So it is not inconsistent for the Christian to have fun and be enthusiastic about life. We are not chained to contemporary cultural taboos; we are liberated children of God. There is no need to keep up with the Joneses since they probably don’t have a clue where they are going. They may be going to hell, but we’re not. They world is getting worse, but we’re not. Then how are we supposed to act?” Christianity is not an act. It is a real experience. A liberated life in Christ. Life is fun when you feel uninhibited and allow yourself to be spontaneous. We restrict our freedom for the weaker brother, but we don’t act like the weaker brothers and sisters who can’t be themselves.

Dr. Neil

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