Furthermore, as for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, He has also empowered him to eat from them and to receive his reward and rejoice in his labor; this is the gift of God.

Ecclesiastes 5:19, NASB

One of the things that we all find difficulty is in the balance between our physical pursuits and the spiritual ones. We have all been guilty at one time or another of putting things before our service to God, whether these things were something fun, or whether we were just too caught up in our work. So this is not an article about putting anything before God, nor is it an endorsement of ever doing things that God has defined as sin.

Having said that, I do want to point out that it is okay to enjoy life. Once we have taken care of first things first, it is more that acceptable to have hobbies and interests that are not directly tied to our service to God. I'm not saying that we ever have permission to sin for clearly we do not, but we do have the right to enjoy those things that God has given us to enjoy. 

We do have to be cautious of a few obvious pitfalls. When I was a kid at the worship services or Bible classes, I can remember of thinking of little else than counting the minutes until these things were over so that I could play. Now, children will be childish but if we still struggle with these things as adults then we need to reconsider our devotion and our priorities. Having said that, once we have had our times of Bible study, prayer and worship, there is nothing wrong with going home and enjoying a good game on the television! 

Carolyn and I love to hike in God's nature, and we love to just walk around town and have time to talk. That's a great hobby! We also like to be apart so that we can enjoy our separate interests like looking at the financial markets or working with our art (I'll let you guess whose hobby is whose). We both like to read, and as long as the books are wholesome, then the activity is wholesome. We know people who love everything about horses, from raising and riding them, to taking them to various competitions. 

The point is that there are unlimited things that are good and right to enjoy, so we ought to not be made to feel guilty when we do enjoy them. We notice from the same Book of Ecclesiastes that the passage above is taken from that we can go to far. Solomon talked about some of his pursuits that were foolish, as well as some that he just got too carried away with. He also talked about falling into sinful behavior, something that we all must be cautioned against.

But, having given proper consideration to being alert against such things, then by all means go ahead and have fun with your hobbies. When someone gives you a gift it's okay to take it out of its wrapping and enjoy it. God saw that we needed activities that will take our minds off of our daily problems and responsibilities. He knew that we sometimes just need a break to enjoy proper activities just for the sake of enjoyment. So by all means do it! Enjoy these gifts from your loving Father. Just be thankful, be cautious to keep these hobbies from becoming idols, and then enjoy all of the excitement or the relaxation that these things can provide.

God does want you to put Him first, but He has also placed a lot of things in this world for you to enjoy after you have first enjoyed your service to  both He and Christ!