Great to Good – Enjoying Great Moments Part 2

Chip lists 5 Biblical reasons we should be enjoying life here:

1.Enjoying our life reminds us of God’s goodness.

Psalm 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield; the LORD bestows favor and honor; no good thing does he withhold from those whose walk is blameless.”

God gives good things to us. How does He feel when we take them for granted? When we act like we don’t appreciate all He’s given us? Have you ever given someone a gift that you were excited about? You couldn’t wait to watch them open it and see their reaction. But then they put it aside without saying much and later you heard they didn’t appreciate it because it didn’t go with something else, or they didn’t have time to use it, or they’d have to go out and get something else to go with it or whatever. You feel really bad!

God gives us beautiful things every day. Sometimes we notice. Sometimes we don’t. Sometimes we notice, but complain about them.

2.Enjoying our life sustains us in adversity.

After the Israelites rebuilt Jerusalem’s walls, Ezra the priest read them the first 5books of the Bible (the Torah) and the people realized how far they had drifted from God and began to weep. They repented, but Nehemiah said:

Nehemiah 8:10 “Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

It was necessary to repent, but God also gave them reason to celebrate.

3.Enjoying our life honors God as the source of joy.

James 1:17 “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”

4.Enjoying our life connects our hearts to those we love.

Most great moments are a shared experience. One thing I love about Facebook is you have your “friends” on there you are connected to and they put up information about what they are doing. So recently a friend’s father-in-law died and immediately a string of comments from his friends were saying they were sorry, or they were praying for the family kind of thing. We are also notified of all our friend’s birthdays so there’s always a string of good wishes on that person’s profile on his or her birthday. I like to send little pictures to kind of illustrate my messages. People put up photos of their kids and grand kids or special occasions. They share their lives. It’s a fun way of connecting.

When I was a travel agent there was a German man who was single and around 60 at the time. I did all of his business travel, but also all of his leisure travel and he traveled a lot. He would ski in the Alps; go to really exotic locations, but always alone. I always thought – I hope he takes a lot of pictures, because half of the fun of being somewhere really cool is being able to turn to someone else and say, “Isn’t that really cool?”

Humans want to connect. They want to share. They are made for relationships.

5.Enjoying our life is important because God uses the joy of quiet moments to renew us.

Chip uses the Sabbath as an example here. The Sabbath wasn’t meant to be a day of “You can’t do this and you can’t do that.” It’s God’s way of telling us not to stress like unbelievers who feel like they have to work 7 days a week. He urges us to stop, rest, worship and enjoy one another. It’s a required vacation day that God has given us because God knew we’d never get around to it on our own. Modern science tells us laughter builds the immune system and restores life.

I was reading an article in a Woman’s Fitness magazine and it actually said for better health we should have more fun! That all work and no play leads to burnout and a snarly disposition. Fun energizes you, keeps you grounded and gives you a break from pressures. The article even said that you can view fun as an investment in your job performance – it will help you keep perspective and have energy to deal with tough situations.

So if you are going to have a to-do list, put fun on it!