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!  

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him. Though you do not now see Him, you believe in Him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with gory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls,

I Peter 1:8-9, ESV

 

Consider two scenarios. The first is you have a dream of being a doctor someday. You have always admired doctors and think that it would be nice to have a profession in which you were able to help a lot of people. You have seen the good things that doctors can do, from helping people get well, to easing their suffering, and you think that it would be wonderful someday to be in such a position to help people. But, that's about as far as you go.

 

In the second situation, you also have a dream of being a doctor. You have always admired doctors and think that it would be nice to have a profession in which you were able to help a lot of people. You have seen the good things that doctors can do, from helping people to get well to easing suffering and you think that it would be wonderful someday to be in such a position to help people. So, you begin to look into what it would take to be a doctor.

 

You then take a test to see if you have what it takes to be admitted to medical school. You are delighted to find out that you do have the basic knowledge needed to pursue such training so you immediately take courses in pre-med. Upon completing this part, you take more tests and start applying at different medical schools. It takes more time and effort than you could have imagined, but eventually you are accepted into med school and you begin the long journey and hard work required to complete this part of your training.

 

Then it's on to the next stage where you actually begin an internship that provides you with the last part of your training. 12 years later, after pre-med, medical school and interning, you finally have the opportunity to become a full-fledged doctor, should you choose to do so.

 

Here is the question: Taking both scenarios into account, which one do you think will allow you to achieve your goal of becoming a doctor? The question is silly, right? It is obvious that only one scenario can possibly result in your achieving your dream. 

 

Why is that? Isn't because that to do the work of a doctor you first have to put the effort into becoming a doctor? The answer is so obvious, but isn't it the same when we talk about being with God in Heaven someday? Many will bristle at this comparison, but consider the following scenarios:

 

In one, you have heard about Heaven and you would like to go someday, but that is where your thoughts begin and end. In the other scenario, you realize that being a servant of God is a wonderful thing and so you make preparations to become a worthy servant. You find out what God requires to become a Christian, and you do it. You love your fellow man so you start helping them when you are able, easing their burdens when you are able, and encouraging them when they are suffering.

 

You realize full well that it is still by grace that you will be saved, but your longing is to be a servant of God for all eternity, so you start your service now.

 

In which case do you think you are most likely to receive the goal of your faith - the salvation of your soul?

 

 

 

Therefore you are without excuse, every man of you who passes judgment, for in that you judge one another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.

Romans 2:1-2, NASB

 

We have all heard it. Maybe we have said it ourselves: "Don't judge me!" When we say such things, however, it's often because we have done something that is worthy of judgment. But when we look at this passage, combined with Jesus' instruction "Judge not, that ye be not judged", we often feel justified in our claim that no one has the right to tell us what we are doing is wrong. After all. that would be judging, wouldn't it?

 

We were looking at this very passage in Bible class yesterday morning. We have a teacher who has a talent for engendering discussion no matter how sleepy the class may be, and this day was no exception. He was pointing out how tricky this verse can sometimes be - are we to notice that people are sinning when we have sin in our own lives? Wouldn't that be judging? 

 

One gentleman with many years of Bible study and teaching gave this example: He said that he had once bought a truck in which someone has left behind a very nice level. The level was made of brass and wood and was four foot in length. It was state of the art when it was made and still functioned beautifully. He admitted that he used it often. He said that he used it to prop open a door!

 

His point was that though he did use it from time to time in it's intended function to check the level of something, he usually used it in a way other than was intended by its maker. He further pointed out that though some men will occasionally use the Bible for its intended purpose, that they are all too often just as likely to misuse it for something that fits their own purpose. Then he made this point: The Bible is a standard!

 

I remember one day being chastised by one of my favorite people who I had coached and played countless "pickup" games with in basketball. My daughter and I had been coaching her team in a summer league camp, and they had done very well. But the championship games were played on a Sunday, so my daughter and I were not there to coach since we were at worship. Compounding the matter was that another daughter who was playing on the team was also at the worship and missed the final games.

 

Later that evening, I saw my friend at the gym. They had lost their games that day and she was wondering where we all were. When I told her, she wanted to know why we would do such a thing. I told her it was because we were not heathens! She told me not to judge her! I replied, "I wasn't judging you, sweetheart. I was just making an observation!"

 

Now, of course, we were both just engaging in friendly banter, but there is a point in all of this. As the gentleman said in Bible class, we do have a standard. Furthermore, it is God's standard. Sometimes people will misuse that standard to try and get away with things that they know they shouldn't really be doing. And so, they take the meaning of Scripture and then twist it to "prove" the complete opposite of its meaning.

 

In the passage above, we are given a standard: Judgment is not in our realm! All have sinned and fall short (Romans 3:23). But God has still set a standard, and we are told in the same passage that, though we have no right to be passing judgment on our fellow men, that God will rightly judge each one of us. Since He has just had the Apostle Paul itemize a long list of sinful activities in the verses that preceded the one that is quoted above, we are without excuse. The reason for this is that we can know what is right and wrong without taking God's role in the Judgment.

 

In other words, we can know by the stated standard that something is sin without going to the extreme of taking God's place. If we pretend we cannot tell when someone is sinning, how can we possibly help them stop that sin? We must look to God's Word for the standard and then by observation we can love our fellow man enough to warn them. This doesn't require judging. It requires love! Our part on both sides is to be careful never to cross the line between our duty, and that of God.

 

We do have a standard! The question is are we using it in the right way?  

 

 

Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth.

II Timothy 2:15, NIV (1978)

 

Do your best to correctly handle the word of truth - the King James Version words puts it this way: "Study to show thyself approved". Our knowledge of the Word of God is so important that God lets us know that we need to be ashamed of ourselves should we choose to remain willfully ignorant of the truths contained within that Word. As one who has made an attempt to study more after I turned from a child to an adult, I can honestly say that there has been more than one occasion in my life where I was ashamed that I was not as familiar with Scripture as I should have been. 

 

I have enjoyed doing home Bible studies. Over the years, my wife and I have been blessed to have had a number of opportunities to share a Bible study with someone who was interested in learning more about the Bible. We have also, on very rare occasions, run into someone who really didn't want to find out what God's Word revealed as much as they wanted to prove what they already believed. I can relate to that because there have been too many times in my own life when I was studying to confirm my own beliefs rather than to find out what God really had to say. Whenever we get that way, there is indeed much cause for shame.

 

I find as I get older, however, that I am far more interested in making sure I am learning everything God wants me to know, rather than being perceived as being right in something I don't know. So, instead of reading the Bible to prove I am right, I am finally getting much more concerned with making sure that I know His will so I can do it. Life is far too short to remain in ignorance due to preconceived notions and bias, so it behooves us all to study to show ourselves approved. After all, if a person is of the belief that the habits he enjoys so much are harmless, he will likely do little to try and find out if he is wrong. Just ask anyone who smoked in the 1960's who didn't want to listen to all of those "alarmist studies" if this was a beneficial belief to hold.

 

I came across a person the other day who was quite offended at the notion that there might be some good in some of the founders of our own nation. After all, they owned slaves didn't they? I tried to explain that many of our founders worked hard to include a ban on slavery when writing the Constitution, but they eventually had to compromise with the pro-slave states to instead slowly phase out the importation of slaves. This was far ahead of the times for slavery was a worldwide practice, so it is remarkable that they were able to even get the compromise that they did. I don't think I got very far though, for this man believed what he wanted to believe and didn't want to hear any evidence that would threaten that belief. I guess I can understand, for learning things that might threaten my own beliefs, prejudiced though they may be, has all too often been something I have engaged in myself.

 

But we need to realize that this is unacceptable when it comes to the Word of God. In fact, anything short of our best efforts in correctly handling the Bible is shameful in God's eyes. Whether we agree with Him or not, whether we are in the majority of our peers or not, will be of small consolation if we found out at the Judgment that we should not have been content to remain ignorant of the things that God wanted us to know.

 

Fortunately, the cure for ignorance is surprisingly simple: We just need to do our best to study to show ourselves approved.