Use Of Leisure

by J. Douglas, Brantford, Ontario | Category: Christian Standards | Nov 1973

We read in Mark 6:31 that the disciples "had no leisure so much as to eat". How many times has each of us felt the same way as business, family, and assembly commitments kept crowding into our daily lives. The Lord Himself recognized the disciples' difficulty when He said to them, "Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while".

Let us look at what the standards should be for a Christian in terms of leisure and its use today. Sometimes a complete change in type of work can be considered as leisure even though there may be more activity involved. For example, an office worker who comes home ~in the evening may apply himself vigorously to household or garden chores, and similarly a manual worker may devote time to book study because he is interested in a subject. Neither considers it additional work but rather something pleasing with which to occupy his time. So we can see that it is not necessarily the activity involved which classes a pursuit or period of time as pertaining to leisure or not

The dictionary definition of leisure is:

- freedom from business, occupation, or hurry

- time at one's own disposal

- unoccupied time.

How much leisure of this kind do we have at our disposal? Probably very little, as in the case of the disciples in Mark 6. With some it may be quite a lot. The citizens of Athens seemed to spend the bulk of their time telling or hearing some new thing (Acts 17:21)!

Most of us are occupied with many things and each passing year these seem to encroach more and more upon our available time, so that "leisure time" is fast disappearing. Perhaps our first aim must be to preserve a time of freedom from business, occupation, hurry, a time at our own disposal. That is a step which the individual only can take - to so organize himself that nothing is allowed to interfere with his leisure time. If we do not have any leisure time from our occupation, then we are too occupied to be of much value in our Christian life.

The next difficulty which arises is that there is so much pressing for that leisure time

-family time

-Church meetings

-Sunday school and camp

-Bible study and prayer

-friends

-recreation

and so on. Let us look at some of these activities.

Time for our family - Here is a great mutual responsibility for parents and children alike. It has been said that the family that plays and prays together, stays together. The nightly or even weekly family gathering for Bible reading is almost a thing of the past, although the need for the Word of God is surely as great today as it ever has been. Often members of a family pass each other like ships in the night - one going while another comes. This makes it difficult to have a common gathering time. In Canada, the French-speaking population have maintained their very strong cultural background and identity because the family circle has always been the centre of their world. Very few Quebec residents move out across the great North American continent to enjoy the many so-called advances and luxuries of civilization. Why? Because they want to be close to home and celebrate with the family the births, marriages, and other family activities so dear to their heart. Surely it should be more so in the family of the true disciple of the Lord! Time for one's family is a must if we are to see our children grow up in the fear and admonition of the Lord.

Time for church meetings, Sunday school and camp - We have the exhortation in the epistle to the Hebrews to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. And there are scriptural commands to remember the Lord in the breaking of the bread and to continue steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and the prayers (Acts 2:42). These are vital to the continuance of God's testimony on earth and no amount of rationalizing should ever lead us to ignore them in any way.

In our previous paragraph we did not specifically mention gospel preaching but this surely comes under the Lord's great commission, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel" (Mark 16:15). Sunday school and camp efforts have been a great harvest field and will continue to be, so long as workers give of their leisure time to speak to the young. In a children's effort last spring in Mount Forest, Ontario, the thrill of working with some 75 to 100 children each night was a never-to-be-forgotten experience, well worth the 321 hours car drive there and back. To watch these young souls learn the glorious gospel texts, the great "I AM's" of John's Gospel, was thrilling in itself. These children had never really heard them before. Leisure used in Sunday school and camp activities is time well spent.

Time for Bible study and prayer - The apostle Paul advised Timothy to be diligent about handling aright the word of truth. The writer of the 119th Psalm revelled in the blessedness of the statutes, commandments and laws of God. In verse 103 he says; "How sweet are Thy words unto my taste, yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth". It was to learn such precepts and teaching that the Lord called aside His disciples to rest awhile because He knew their spiritual needs could only be met away from the pressures of their daily routine. They also learned the necessity of setting aside time for private prayer. We read of the Son of God spending all night in prayer. Paul said, "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17). We must make time for Bible study and prayer if we are to be effective disciples.

Time for friends - It is said that a man is known by the company he keeps. Many examples are given in Scripture of the perils of evil company. The cases of Samson and Absalom are solemn warnings. We need wisdom in our choice of friends, and to be particularly careful regarding their attitude to our Lord. Where there is no reverence for His Person, there will be no time for His things. It is heartwarming to watch close friendships develop. How fruitful they are when they have the Lord as their Centre and Guide! Let us develop friendships with those whose aims are one with our own. The friendship of David and Jonathan was sweet and lovely, but Jonathan could not quite make the break to throw in his lot with the rejected one, even though he knew David would one day be the great and glorious king David. In these difficult and dark days we need friends who will stand like David with a firm purpose.

Time for recreation - Should we include this type of activity when we are so desperately pressed for time to do so many worthwhile things? 1 Tim. 4:8 tells us that bodily exercise is profitable for a little. It is worth noting, however, that this "little" is used in comparing it with spiritual things. Not many things in this life would bear a more favourable comparison. Time and again in Scripture, particularly in the New Testament, we have comparisons made with athletes of all kinds, wrestlers, runners, fighters, as examples of how our Christian life should be patterned. God has given us a marvellous body far superior to any man-made device or machine, and He intended that we should keep it in trim. Participating in games and learning to be a good winner or loser may be important in our training for living playing not for personal gain or glory but rather a sense of achievement and the knowledge of something well done; to

play fair and square rather than to "win at any price". These are the rules of life as well and should be even more important to the Christian than anyone else. Yes, time for bodily exercise is important, too, to keep our God-given bodies and minds in proper balance.

Summary

What can we learn from what has been written in this article?

Here are some suggestions:

(1)Establish priorities for "occupied" and "unoccupied" time.

(2)Make sure that there is not an excess of one particular activity in your life.

(3)Ask the Lord to guide you as to the leisure time activities best suited to you.

J. Douglas, Brantford, Ontario | Nov 1973
Christian Standards