Too much fun! What's that mean?

There is good evidence that anything in excess gets in the way of God. Of course that goes without saying in the case of blatant sin – pornography, adultery, greed, anger, idolatry, drunkenness. (Gal 5:19-21) But it can and should also be said about excess that isn’t sin.

Consider your last vacation. How often during your respite at the beach or the mountains did you wonder at the glory and majesty of God’s creation, but fail to sit and study His word or listen for His leading? Ok, before I lose you let’s be painfully clear, it’s not a sin to skip a day reading the Bible. Nor is it a sin to enjoy some time off from work or spend quality time building family memories. There’s even a country song about “too much fun” being impossible to achieve. But anything that gets between you and God, even your right eye (Matt 5:29), or your seashell hunting, can become a problem.

How about work? Sadly and to my own shame, I can provide clear and indisputable evidence that work (to the point of being a workaholic) can and does interfere with our communication with God. For more than the last month, I’ve racked up over 100 hours working each week – and I’m salary so I don’t get a penny more for it. There were nights I slept less than two hours, and nights I didn’t sleep at all. And while I set out to start each day studying and praying specifically to avoid that separation, it became harder each day to “find the time.” Frankly, when there is no division between workdays it becomes difficult to define your “start” let alone fill it with spiritual nurturing.

So to keep it simple, excess is bad. Excess fun, excess work, even excess in worship! While we should be worshipping God all the time, that’s not the only thing He calls us to do. So I will work to better moderate my work, life, study and witness. And I challenge you to the same.