Is Life Supposed to Be Fun?

Postcard used with permission from www.GoodJobNotes.com

I went to a private high school in the upper mid west, back in 71 - 75. I was an army brat and a scholarship kid, and my roommates were from families of wealth and privilege.  I know that now.  Back then, they were just kids.

Anyway, I was on the wrestling team, and we had a match against a team from a Blind School, where all the children were legally blind.

There were different rules.  If we let go of our opponent, the match was stopped, for example.  We destroyed them.  My match was very easy.  I wondered, at the time, why they even bothered.
Then I found out.  The were evangelical Christians, as well as blind.  The each approached us, and starting tell us how we were going to hell, and how God loved us so much, he had a way out.  I can recall thinking something like, "You are already in hell, save yourself and leave me alone you freak."

Most of us bugged out as fast as we could.  This was not fun for us or for them.

That picture colored the rest of my educational life and how I looked at Jesus.  I find it amusing now, how I can't remember where I live or what time it is, or how to add 2 digit numbers, but I can remember a spiritual event that happened a lifetime ago.  God really does work in mysterious ways.

From that point until today, I think most Christians fall into 1 of two or three different categories.

Category one is the one I find most often applies:

1) I am duty bound to work out my salvation, after the fact, by following every law in the bible and in the land that I can, except for ceremonial law.  I will keep my head down in prayer, and never make a noise in my life, as life's purpose is about God, not me.  I can not have fun, it would be disrespectful.

This one is pretty classic.  You either believe that you were saved by the grace of God, as outlined in Ephesians, or you believe that you have to work your salvation out by works, from James.  Perhaps, you believe that you must do good works because you saved.

Personally, I do what is right when I am walking with the spirit, because is gives glory to God's name, and it seems as though there is no other choice.  Simple example.   I always return the shopping cart to the place that it belongs at the grocery store.  Even if I am late.  Even if it is raining.  It seems right.  I would hate to have someone who is NOT a Christian yet, see we just rolling it next to my car and leave, just because I did not want to get wet.  I am not a fair weather Christian.  I love the Lord.  All the time.

Category two is the polar opposite, and seems to apply to the youngest adults most often:

2) I am already saved, if I have been called to be saved, and God has given me the world, so I will use it. All of it, un-apologetically and without gratitude to my fellow humans, since God gave it to me.  Those who help are only vessels for God's grace, so I don't owe them anything.

This example nearly prevented me from becoming a Christian as well.  One of our karate students, about 16 at the time, and a member of a very conservative Evangelical Baptist church in our area, was bragging about how he and his girl friend (now wife) had gone to a move, and since there were already in the theater, when that show, for which they had paid, was over, they just got up and walked into a different movie, for which they had not paid.  Why I asked them.  "Why not," they answered.  "I thought you were a Christian?" I said.  "What's that got to do with it?" they said.

What would Jesus do?  Go to the movies for free, because God has given him the whole world, right?

The third category is the reason for this blog.  Live life large, as God intended us to do.

3) You must celebrate the life here and the life eternal you have been given.  Every living thing has difficulty, and we too will have our share.  Some of it will be because we live in a fallen world and some will be there for teach us.  But we have something those who are not yet saved do not have.  We have the helper (John 14:26 "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you"), they holy spirit, praying for us, guiding us and keeping us within God's grasp, (Romans 8:26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words..  We have assurance of life everlasting (John 14:1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.), and we have the love of the creator of the universe.

Live you life like you were the child of the King, because you are.

Unconditional Love

With Permission from: http://www.goodjobnotes.com/whatsnew

The purpose of the article is to deal with a business practice that one of my friends has begun to use, with great results. The reward good behavior by sending students what they call "I Like You Because Cards. It is a practice that works within human psychology and recommends itself to influencing other people to good affect. In other words, it actually works.


It is, however,  just short term and has the ability to cause great harm to those who you use it on, especially when they discover that your love, your feelings, your attitude about them is conditional.  


Let me assure you, before I begin, that God's Love is Unconditional.

Psalm 36:5-7 (ESV): "Your steadfast love, O Lord, extends to the heavens, your faithfulness to the clouds.  Your righteousness is like the mountains of God; your judgments are like the great deep; man and beast you save, O Lord.  How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings."

Just to make sure you understand the impact of this type of love, I have included a link to one of my favorite songs about this very Psalm.

Imagine for a moment, that you are teaching a class of young children, and one of them is panicked. This child has discovered in her life that to get what she wants, all she has to do is yell, scream and physically pound on you to be let go.

You decide that you want to change her life, so you choose one of these two methods:

Humanism:  You hold the child and tell the child that you like her when she behaves as a young lady. She punches you.  You tell her you don't like her when she punches you.  She screams.  You tell her people will like her if she is not screaming ... etc

Following God's Example:  You hold the child, and she punches you while she screams, "I hate You!"  You tell her that you like here no matter what she says and does. That you will help her do (whatever she needs to do that caused her to panic to begin with).  She punches and kicks you and screams.  You tell her that no matter what she does, you will still like her, and that her behavior only changes when she gets to leave.

My daughter was teaching a karate class with a 5 year old who did just this.  My daughter and I picked following God's example.  That child now is one of the leaders, even though she has only been there for 3 months.  That child even tells other misbehaving children that we like them, no matter what.  

We have spread the culture of God's unconditional Love.

Here is another example:

Zephaniah 3:17  “The Lord your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.” (NIV)

Just in case you need to hear to believe.

God loves you no matter what.  When Jesus tells us that we are to Love the Lord our God and our Neighbor he means with this type of love.

Can you Do it?