September 13th,
1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat, or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
Our hobbies, they are an enormous part of who we are, they can characterize, centralize, create, contain, culminate, and conduct who we are and what we do. What we give our optional time to is very important. The word hobby means: "a regularly undertaken activity that is done for pleasure, typically during one's leisure time" The key here is the purpose of the hobby and that is pleasure; how much precedence does our pleasure have in life? there are of course extremes, for example the definition of heathenism is the worship of pleasure (not the pursuit). And on the other side we have european cults who peel flesh off their backs each day to show their lowliness. Somewhere they missed the point, if we live solely for our pleasures we have entirely missed the message of our creator and savior and will find our toys and trinkets emptied into an eternal void of pain and emptiness. If we demonize these things we will be so biased against the idea in general that we will deter those who would pursue something worth while and therefore be no example of Christ and entirely miss our purpose in reaching out. In C.S. Lewis's book The Screwtape Letters we find the demon wormwood's master admitting, "We can create nothing good, in fact we cant even replicate any type of enjoyment or pleasure, we can only twist what the enemy has already made". Yes, this means our Lord is the creator of pleasure, everything from a beauty of the flower to the intimacy of sex, it is all His. Nothing good, pleasurable or true is existing except through Him. Yes these things have been severely twisted, it's awful what we've done and that is something else entirely for another time. Having said that the mutilation and horrification that has entered our entertainment still cannot drown the beauty and peace of their original forms. So if there are honorable/worthwhile means of pleasure should they be pursued? To what extent? If we look at Christ's plan for humanity he clearly intends for us to live in the most exhilarating state of joy, fulfillment and pleasure possible. In the garden, he made everything perfect, pleasure had not to be sought because they were immersed in it. When we pass this world we go to a place of pure joy, pure enjoyment, ultimate fulfillment, and peace. See it's not that we weren't meant to be fulfilled, it's what we're fulfilled with. Your hobbies reflect what you see fulfillment in; it's a simple science. I have been wading through some options here in kentucky, I would love to play guitar, I would love to get a hold of a Nikon or Canon and start shooting, I would love to work out more and get into a good routine, I want to write more, and more often, I want to become fluent in calligraphy, I want to learn German...... There are endless outlets for what I can do down here, I can play tennis, I can play video games, I can play an instrument and so many more.... It's not all good options either, there's plenty of habits around me that are very bad for me, right at the tip of my fingers. J.R.R. Tolken said, "Man has but to extend his hand and take the power for his own." I hope it's obvious by now that we are immersed, surrounded and saturated in a world of pleasures, and avenues of fulfillment, the question is not of this for sure. The question is what, what is worth putting your time into? When you're seventy-five how many Zelda games will you remember? When I'm old and gray I can open my drawer and read that letter she gave me years ago and find joy, encouragement and hope. Some things are worth pursuing, some aren't. What these things are, what they will look like, and what commodity they come in is up to you but let me say this. Are you proud of it?
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters....
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