Making Holidays Holy

Making Holidays Holy

It’s back! The long awaited year end holidays and a well deserved break. Some have planned it for fun with friends, entertainment, leisure activities, computer games, etc., and others have planned to spend it on holidays and tours. Recreation is necessary for well-balanced lives. As Christians, we must seek to refresh our spirits and bodies by recreation for the glory of God. It is observed that many times, recreation brings out the worst in us and not the best. Some have engaged in unprofitable conduct, putting themselves in harm’s way of temptation and sin. Sinful pleasures are dangerous to the body and damning to the soul.

Dear brethren, I encourage you to make your holidays a blessing. “See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” Eph 5:15-16. God is not protesting against the innocent recreational activities but the sinful ones. In making our holidays a blessing we need to identify our motives behind recreational activities. Here are some guidelines on what may constitute proper recreation for the believer.
* Will Jesus Christ forbid me from doing it, if he were personally present on earth?
* Is the recreation beneficial in making me stronger in body, happier in mind and purer in heart?
* Does my engagement in the recreational activity hinder me later from alertly turning to the Bible and to prayer? Will this activity violate my conscience? Romans 14:22, 23.
* Will this weaken my influence as a Christian? Or will my doing it cause others to fall or stumble in their faith? I Corinthians 10:23-33.
* Can I glorify God in my body while doing it? Can I do it for the glory of God? I Corinthians 6:19, 20.

There is a place for legitimate recreation – after all God’s creation is meant for us to enjoy. But let this be done with God as our guide. The Westminster Catechism of faith, Q1 re-affirms this truth. What is the chief end of man?” “The chief end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.” Let me close with 19th century author T. L. Cuyler’s quote“All work makes a man a sorry slave. All play makes him a sorrier fool. The wise person avoids both extremes. When at work, they work like men and Christians. When at play, they relax and sport like little children. That is human nature; that is wise; that is beautiful.” Christian recreations must be right, proper, commendable, and beneficial.
 

Have a Blessed Holiday
Pr. Mathews Abraham