Endless Entertainment
Since COVID-19 started spreading around the globe, billions of people have been put on lockdown by their governments. Chances are, you are one of them! No matter what you do for a living, you are probably spending more time within the walls of your house than you normally do. That means more time to watch movies, play video games, and stream the internet. With streaming services, gaming consoles, and news at the click of a button, the amount of entertainment we can consume is endless!
Entertainment is not bad in and of itself. Entertainment can be used to rest for a short time or used to grow in your relationships with others. There are great movies you can watch with your family or games you can play with your friends. Entertainment is not bad, but just like everything else in creation it should be put in its proper place. God does not want us to be pursuing our ultimate end or pleasure from recreation. He has designed us for a purpose that is greater than watching limitless television.
God wants us to be delighting ourselves in our relationship with Him, knowing that He alone will truly satisfy. God shows us this over and over again throughout the Bible using examples in the Old Testament and ultimately in the coming of His Son. Since most of us will have extra time at home during this season of COVID-19, we should be making sure we find our delight and satisfaction in the right place—our relationship with God.
Old Testament Examples
The Old Testament is full of examples of people who found their pleasure and delight in God over the pleasures of this world. King David was at one point in his life the most powerful man in Israel, yet at other times he was nothing more than a teenage shepherd boy. David was far from sinless, but throughout the different seasons of his life we can see how he sought to find God as the pleasure of his soul. The psalms written by David show us how much he found his joy in God.
Some of the sweetest times of David’s pursuit of God were when he was in immense trials. Multiple people tried to kill David during his life and Psalm 16:11 shows us where David found his pleasure during times of suffering. He says, “You will make known to me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; In Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”
Asaph is also a great example for us to follow. He is the author of Psalm 73 which reveals a personal struggle he had in his walk with God. Asaph saw that there are people on this earth who oppose God, pursue endless pleasure, and yet seem to prosper! This caused him to doubt whether he was pursuing the right things in life and to think that he was running after the Lord in vain. Psalm 73:25-26 shows us those doubts did not have the final say in the mind of Asaph. He came to realize in this psalm that God alone will satisfy the soul and that pursuing our ultimate pleasure in the world will only produce self-destruction. His true delight in life is shown in Psalm 73:25-26 when he says, “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. “
David and Asaph were men who fought to find their pleasure in God and not in this world. They both knew that entertainment, physical possessions, or anything else that was created could not give the sort of pleasure that only the Creator could provide. These men and many other people in the Old Testament are examples we can seek to follow.
Christ Brings Soul Satisfaction
Not only does the Bible give us examples of people who found their pleasure in God, like David and Asaph, it also tells us about the One who came down so we can have everlasting pleasure. Jesus, God in the flesh, came down to be crucified and raised again so that we can have pleasure and joy in God. This is a pleasure that is incomparable to all other delights, and Christians have received it as a gift! Christ wants us to experience the same joy from a relationship with the Father that He has always experienced. In His earthly ministry, He proclaimed that God alone can provide lasting joy for our souls.
John chapter 4 recounts Jesus’ interaction with a Samaritan woman drawing water from a well. The woman struggled with the pursuit of pleasure all her life, and in this encounter Jesus offers her spiritual satisfaction. He uses the water she was drawing out of the well as the basis of an illustration showing that a relationship with Him is the only thing that can quench spiritual thirst. He says in John 4:13-14, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.”
Conclusion and Application
Entertainment is a blessing from God, but God did not intend for us to find our pleasure in watching a movie or playing a game. It is not wrong to enjoy a show on Netflix or play a video game. These can be great things when we see them as gifts from God, but they are not good when we think they will give joy that only God can provide. God has a better design for our lives—to be finding our pleasure in Him. He has made a way for us to have a relationship with Him through Christ, and He wants us to continually find our joy in that relationship.
It is not bad to watch a movie with your spare time or play a game if you have been given a few extra hours at home while on lockdown. These can be ways to love on others and build stronger relationships with your family or roommates. However, make sure you prioritize using that extra time to delight in God while you cannot go outside!
Spend time in His word getting to know Him more and how He’s been faithful. Take some time for extended prayer: praying for those who are sick and those who work in healthcare. Read a Christian book or re-watch the Sunday sermon. In these times, we need to make sure we remind ourselves that He alone can satisfy and then we joyfully should put those truths into practice.
