Enjoying Life
- Jeff Kent
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
Sometimes (no doubt too often), God gets a “bad rap.” He is railed upon for not preventing more of the suffering which goes on in the world. He is seen as an egomaniac who wants humanity groveling at His feet. He is thought to be too demanding in His expectations of those who would serve Him. Hell is too severe, the cross too extreme, and “love your enemies” is just out of touch with real life. It seems that we get an “out of balance” view of God when we dwell on what we do not fully understand and kick against what is personally distasteful. It is vital that we get a complete picture of our Creator.
In our text, Paul is providing directives to Timothy for people who are rich in material wealth, pointing out the dangers of fixing “their hope on the uncertainty of riches” and not on God “who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy.” Wait a minute! What did you say, Paul? Did you say something about enjoying things?
Why, yes he did! Paul writes that God, this God who is accused of being a terrible taskmaster and unconcerned about human suffering, provides us richly with all things to enjoy in life. My, oh my, how many of us have missed this? We are afraid to enjoy life. We can’t appreciate a cup of coffee just sitting on the porch in the cool of the early morning .. we can’t kick a ball around the back yard with our grandchild ... we can’t sit and watch hummingbirds coming to the feeder ... because we fear that God thinks we are wasting time. After all, aren’t we supposed to be sober minded and busy with the work of the kingdom? Why, of course we are.
But maybe, just maybe, if we learned to delight a little more in what our God has given us to enjoy, we would appreciate Him more and have more favorable things to say about Him. If I recall correctly, wasn’t it Jesus who was at the wedding in Cana, who told us to consider the beauty of the lilies of the field, and who wanted to hold the little children and bless them? Yes, I believe that was our Lord.
Sure, we can do too much “enjoying” or too much “laboring.” If we properly blend the two, the labor will be less laborious, and the enjoyments will turn up hidden blessings. God is so good.
><> Jeff
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