Having Fun in Christ

June 10, 2025/Ayrian Yasar/
Photo Credit: SolStock / iStock.com

Photo Credit: SolStock / iStock.com

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The first definition Merriam-Webster gives for fun is “what provides amusement or enjoyment.” This definition certainly can cover a lot of ground. It could apply to a number of different activities, good and bad. A child may find amusement in walloping another child, but we certainly wouldn’t condone this behavior because it is wrong and hurtful. What are some ways Christians should think of fun in the sense of actions that “provide amusement or enjoyment”?

God made people to enjoy the abundant blessings he provides to them.

As you may already know, the word “fun” does not appear in the Bible; however, words such as “delight” and “enjoy” are found plentifully in Scripture. We find examples in the Bible of the Lord providing abundant blessings and desiring his people to enjoy them; yet, his people end up spoiling these opportunities by sin. The Lord brought Israel into the promised land with the hope that they would thoroughly enjoy the land, but because of their sin they could not do so:

“And I brought you into a plentiful land
    to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, you defiled my land
    and made my heritage an abomination.” (Jer . 2:7)

From the beginning of Genesis we find the Lord declaring all he has made to be good; there is a sense of delight in what he has made (Gen. 1). We find God pouring out blessings upon Adam and Eve (Gen. 2), inviting them to enjoy the beautiful garden (we also find, as part of the curse, that there is now a lack of delight in humankind’s work; see Gen. 3:16-19; Eccl. 1:2-3).

We must not define what is fun and delightful based on our own sinful desires.

Adam and Eve are given the garden of Eden, including the delicious fruits in this garden. God abundantly blesses them, giving them authority to rule over and enjoy all his good creation, only forbidding them from eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Yet,

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. (Gen. 3:6)

Since the Fall in the garden of Eden, humankind is intent on taking God’s blessings and distorting them, delighting and enjoying what is not honoring to God, their Lord and Creator, defining for themselves what is good and delightful. Is “fun” then for Christians a culturally determined definition, with no moral guidance? Is fun what looks good to our eyes and what seems good to our own reasoning?

We rightly enjoy life to the fullest as humans when we reflect God’s goodness and character.

No indeed. Because we are created to image our God, to be like him in certain ways (character, dignity, moral discernment), we are rightly enjoying life to the fullest as humans when we are enjoying life as God would have us do so, reflecting God’s goodness and character. The Psalmist says,

Let those who delight in my [the Lord’s] righteousness
    shout for joy and be glad
    and say evermore,
“Great is the Lord,
    who delights in the welfare of his servant!” (Ps. 35:27; emphasis added)

The foundation of Christian enjoyment and any subset of that (like fun) is the gladness and joy that belongs to those who delight in the Lord, and this delight is because they know the Lord delights in them. We are able to truly and goodly enjoy life because we are known by the Lord who delights and has saved us. He is our foundation and guide for enjoyment.

Having fun only in ways that are pleasing to God gives us the opportunity to praise and glorify him.

Therefore, as image-bearers being renewed in the image of Jesus Christ, Christians more than any other ought to find delight in God’s common grace blessings: a quiet evening of reading with family, a meal full of laughing and joking with friends, pushing a small child on a swing, holding hands on a beach with a spouse, praying with a small child before bed, admiring a fine work of music or art, marveling at the physical abilities of men and women made in God’s image (humans are such amazing works of creation!), savoring a delicious steak or a cold scoop of ice cream. God enjoys his creation; he delights in his bride, the Church. As image-bearers, we certainly should be delighting in and enjoying the blessings God has given us, because they point to him as the giver of all good things (James 1:17), giving us the opportunity to praise and glorify him.

So have fun in Christ, guided by who God is as revealed in his Word. But firstly, find delight and enjoyment in God, the fountain and source of all good, our loving and faithful Savior who delights in us.

This article is adapted from “Having Fun in Christ” in Beautiful Christian Life’s June 2022 monthly newsletter, “Fun.”