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Are We Afriad of Leisure?
Jerram Barrs

...Many non-Christians and perhaps some Christians have a fear that Christianity is only very sober and somber, and suspicious of fun, delight, and lightheartedness. As we think about this unwholesome approach to life, we recognize several ways in which unbiblical thinking has affected Christians.

First, there is a tradition of asceticism which is part of our Christian history. Asceticism tells us that there is no room to enjoy life in this world. Any of the pleasures of human existence are suspect–physical pleasures, the pleasures of family life, of creation, the arts, music, and entertainment. Asceticism says that all the Christian should be concerned about is his or her spiritual growth in relationship to God. It was thought that the purely committed believer ought to be one whose heart and soul were so entirely committed to God that nothing else really mattered at all. Life itself was problematic and seen as a kind of distraction.

All of us have heard sermons or talks, or have read books about the Christian faith which have moved in that direction. There is a kind of evangelical form of asceticism: that if I start enjoying things around me I am in danger of damaging my soul. The idea is that anything one really enjoys is suspect.

Another problem which we have in our Christian background is the thinking that especially physical pleasures are a cause of sin. They are seen as fleshy, worldly temptations that will arouse the sinful desire of our hearts and turn us away from the service of God. So whether we view the physical as just an insignificant distraction, or think that life around us is actually a temptation toward sin, either approach will have dramatic effects on how we think about our lives. There is a hymn with a familiar refrain which lilts that as we “turn our eyes upon Jesus... the things of the earth will grow strangely dim.” Many of us are touched by this particular refrain, but how do we understand such a hymn? Do we really understand it to mean that if we love Christ with a whole heart everything else around will become unimportant and somehow dim to us? Do these words reflect for us a Biblical understanding of spirituality? Is there something really wrong with clearly seeing a sunset and thoroughly enjoying it? ...