Christians and Fun

We are currently in Charleston, where Dan is engaging in interviews with a local congregation. The interviews are going extremely well, and he is gaining a lot of insight related to his dissertation. An interesting question came up in one interview: should Christians have fun? We believe that Christians of all people should be joyful and live life fully. We are reconciled with the Father through the Son and are empowered/guided by the Spirit. We can/should understand priorities better than others, and thus should be able to enjoy life in wholesome, healthy, vibrant ways, to the extent that other folks yearn to live as we do. In this context we are not thinking of "fun" in any way that dishonors God, so that "if it feels good, do it." However, we do believe that the fullness and joy of our lives is an enormously powerful testimony of the work of God in our lives. If we are not enjoying life, then non-Christians won't have very much incentive to investigate what it means to be Christ-followers, because they won't see any benefit to following Him. There is a sense, therefore, in which your "fun factor" directly influences your abilitiy to be used by God to reach others. As Nehemiah says, "the JOY of the Lord is our strength." Hoping you are having fun in Jesus! Much Love, Dan and Nancy