Hobby Guilt

When I was a kid, I explored a lot of hobbies, including collecting stamps, building model spaceships, doing science experiments, and playing softball.

But what I really loved then, what I spent hours doing, and what I still love even today, was writing. I wrote science fiction and police stories, and I even wrote a police novel in the eighth grade. I’ve always felt good about that hobby, both because I love to write and because I’ve used that skill so much in my Christian calling, first as a college professor and then as a pastor and now as a Christian life coach and blogger.

Some of my other hobbies, I’ve had more trouble justifying. For example, during my five years as a member of Outside Adventures in Pittsburgh, I enjoyed backpacking, hiking, camping, kayaking, and bicycling with friends. Ah, the joy of packing everything on my back to an idyllic meadow by a sparkling creek, surrounded by brilliant fall colors while enjoying a savory dinner cooked on a camp stove. Oh, the bliss of watching a brilliant sunset while listening to the croaking frogs and singing campfire songs. And what fun to pedal a five-day, 200-mile bike tour, camping each night and devouring ice cream with the gang at the end of every day’s ride. And oh, the magical aura of kayaking after dark in the bioluminescent bay of Puerto Rico!

Now, of course, all of these outdoor hobbies are great for maintaining good physical health. So, I partially justified them in my own mind. However, I could just as easily have walked or jogged or done something else that would have cost less time and money.

And what about other hobbies that I dearly love, but that seem to help neither my Christian calling nor my physical health? 

For example, I’ve always loved to read good fiction: Nobel Prize winners, New York Times best-sellers, well-written historical novels, fantasy series such as The Lord of the Rings, and even Newberry Award-willing children’s literature. I’ve also enjoyed colored-pencil coloring books and coloring on my phone app, pickleball, and cardio drumming (look it up!).

When I talk on the phone with my coaching clients, they sometimes wistfully long for hobbies they once enjoyed but have mostly abandoned, because they seemingly held no practical value and therefore came to be viewed as “a waste of time.” For me, examples are dancing, painting, playing a musical instrument, scrapbooking, photography, movie binge-watching, and fishing. While some people do these things for a living, in my life, they are much less practical hobbies.

Some of my coaching clients—pushing through the guilt—engage in more expensive or time-consuming hobbies such as video gaming, Facebooking, buying season tickets for beloved sports teams, and regularly attending concerts or other kinds of productions.

Many of my clients balk at life-long “pipe dreams” that they think cost too much money or time, for little or no practical benefit, such as starting a model railroad hobby, fixing up an old classic car and showing it at organized car cruises, or buying an RV and touring the country after retirement.

What is God’s view of hobbies and leisure time? Of what value are they, if any? Can we ever be in danger of spending too much time or money on them? After all, wouldn’t it be better instead to give that time and money to needy people and God’s Kingdom purposes?

Some people believe and often act like having fun is somehow wrong or a waste of time. Is it? What can we discover about God’s perspective on hobbies and other recreational activities?

A Biblical View of Hobbies

Nowhere in the Bible does God say, “Thou shalt not have fun, nor shalt thou smile in all thy days!”

A Puritan preacher once said, “Vacations? I don’t take them. I haven’t had a day off in 40 years! The Devil doesn’t take a day off. He doesn’t take vacations, and I don’t either.”

Well, what worse model to pattern your life after than the devil! And I can prove that 40 years of straight-up work isn’t biblical. God Himself rested after he created the universe, even though He didn’t even need to rest. And one of the Ten Commandments tells us to observe a Sabbath day of rest every week. (Click here for my blog about Sabbath.)

Furthermore, Jesus Himself said:

• Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28)

But of course, hobbies and other leisure activities are more than just rest. God works through our hobbies to help transport us from fatigue, boredom, and distraction into vigor, renewal, and joy. Indeed, the very word, “recreation” comes from the concept of “RE-creation.” God re-creates and renews our minds, bodies, and spirits through our recreational hobbies.

When we enjoy hobbies, we enjoy God’s creation, which He proclaimed as good:

• Then God looked over all he had made, and he saw that it was very good! (Genesis 1:31)

Hobbies are indeed some of God’s good gifts to us:

• Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. (James 1:17)

The Bible does not explicitly promote hobbies. For example, we have no record of Jesus playing "dog and jackals," a popular ancient Israelite board game, unearthed during archaeological digs in Megiddo and other ruins of ancient cities. The Old Testament doesn’t mention javelin competitions, even though that sport flourished in the ancient world after debuting in the Olympic Games in 708 BC.

But even though the Bible doesn’t promote hobbies, neither does it forbid them. In fact, the entire message of the Bible is one of joyful re-creation. In fact, weddings, feasts, and other celebrations—approved and even ordained by God—permeated Jewish society. So, at the very least, following Jesus is meant to be fun!

But what about spending time and money on recreational pursuits? Can hobbies be sinful? Can’t they draw us away from God and His purposes?

Of course. Hobbies—or anything else, including money, sex, and power—are not inherently evil. But when they take priority over our relationship with God, then they become sinful.

• Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. (Matthew 6:33)
• For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:34)
• Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

But how can we decide which hobbies are okay? And how can we know when we’re spending too much time or money on hobbies?

Why doesn’t the Bible give us explicit teaching about hobbies? I believe it’s because it would be too easy to fall into legalistic interpretation of rules! Instead, God wants us to talk with Him about our hobbies—just like He wants us to talk with Him about everything in our lives. Our faith is not about rules but relationship. For example, we can talk with God about how our hobbies glorify Him, how they help us, why we enjoy them, and how He has created us to enjoy them. We can thank Him for our hobbies! And of course, as with all of God’s gifts, we hold them loosely, always willing to curtail them, change them, or stop them, as He wishes.

I believe that God creates and guides different people in different ways about hobbies, according to personality, life stage, and even individual circumstances. For example, God might bless a financially stable and adventurous family with the opportunity to tour the country in an RV for a month, building lifelong memories for the parents and kids, learning history, and feeding the family's love of the outdoors. But such an investment of time and money might not be wise for others in different circumstances, nor even attractive to more frugal and less adventurous personalities.

Again, the point is not to find one set of "hobby rules" that fits everyone, but to grow a uniquely individual relationship with God. When we talk with Him about our hobbies—including why we enjoy them, how we sense Him in them, and how He enjoys watching us in them—we grow in our relationship with Him. And when we become who He has created us to be, we honor and glorify Him.

• So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Eric Liddell

You might have heard the story of Eric Liddell, “the flying Scotsman,” a competitor in the 1924 Olympics who refused to run in his best event, the 100-meter race, because he believed that to compete on Sunday would be to compromise his Christian faith. Instead, he entered the 400-meter race, for which he was a long shot. But he won it anyway!

Liddell famously declared, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.”

No one who knows Liddell's story would refute that God did indeed make him for a purpose. Born to missionary parents in China, he studied in London before winning the Olympic gold medal, after which he returned to China as a missionary. Except two short furloughs, he remained in China until his death in a Japanese civilian internment camp in 1945, at age 43.

And yet, Liddell strongly believed that God made him to run. So he said he would have run regardless of whether he won a gold medal at the Olympics, and regardless of whether God publicized his Christian testimony. Liddell said, “I simply can’t not run.”

Running was a core part of who Eric Liddell was, and according to him, it was a hobby—merely but profoundly, it was a hobby.

God loves to give us joy—not just so His purposes will be accomplished through us, but also simply because He loves us. Jesus came to give us not only everlasting life but also abundant life.

• I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. (John 10:10)

God made us in His image. He loves, laughs, and enjoys. So also, we love, laugh, and enjoy because we are made in His image. We have fun!

How Hobbies Fuel Christian Life and Calling

Hobbies are rich soil for growing our relationship with God. Talk with God about your hobbies!

If you yearn to do something that prompts guilt because of the extra time and money, talk with God about it. And don’t be surprised if He doesn’t give you a definite answer! He wants meaningful conversation with you about your hobbies, more than He wants to dictate rules to you about them!

Tell God what you love about your hobbies—how you feel when you do them, the memories you attach to them, how they started and why, and how they help you.

Give your hobbies to God, and ask Him to use them for His glory. How cool if, in the process of just going all-out at being you, you glorify Him in the process! Who knows, God might give you a platform like Eric Liddell to testify about Him through your hobbies.

But even if you can’t possibly see any practical or testimonial reason to do your hobbies, talk with Him about doing them anyway, even if they do cost a lot of time or money….Yeah, I know, but hang on, here’s why.

When you become fully who you are—when you become who God created you to be through your hobbies—you honor Him, you live with greater freedom and joy, and you’re more likely to gain maximum confidence and perseverance to fulfill your Christian calling, even if it is totally unrelated to your hobbies.

As I said earlier, one of my hobbies, ever since I was a kid, was writing. It’s easy to see how my life-long practice of that hobby helps me fulfill my calling in Christ. After all, right now—right this minute—you’re reading something I wrote about Christian life and calling!

But most of my hobbies are unrelated to my Christian calling, and God has not used most of them to help others grow in Christ. So, for most of my life, I did time-consuming hobbies only when transitioning from one calling role to another. Whenever I took time or spent money at other times to do these so-called unproductive hobbies, I felt guilty.

For decades, I read very few fictional books. I certainly didn’t give up reading, but I read so-called “practical” books instead: books about leadership, Christian growth, the Bible, coaching, etc.

Now, almost every night before I go to bed, I settle into the big recliner in the bedroom that I share with my husband, switch on just the one bedside lamp on the other side of the room, kick back, and read 45-90 minutes of impractical, nonproductive fiction!

Expertly written stories transport me to new adventures, cultures, times, skills, vocations, people, ideas, and possibilities. God created me to enjoy and be transformed by story in these ways. When I consistently read good fictional books, God rests, renews, and inspires my spirit through them.

Do I spend as much time reading the Bible as reading fictional books? Not usually. (Gasp!) But I experience God’s grandeur, creativity, and inspiration through them. I experience God through this hobby!

It’s the same with my other so-called impractical and nonproductive hobbies. When I take breaks from my work and routine to play pickleball, cardio-drum, color, or go for a sunset walk with my husband around the lake near our home, I feel God refreshing and renewing me.

And that can only help my Christian calling! When I'm rested, renewed, and feeling good—when I'm feeling and being authentically myself—then, in my calling, I'm more refreshed, passionate, joyful, creative, and fruitful.

A few nights ago, my husband and I strolled down the multi-modal trail in our beautiful residential neighborhood. Near sunset, at least five different kinds of clouds scudded across the sky—some monstrous and billowy, some high and feathery, and some lumpy and low. One even looked like the alligator that lives in the pond behind our house! Sprawled in front of us in the western sky, bright orange, gold, and maroon splashed across the entire horizon and well above our heads, changing colors every minute like a slow-motion kaleidoscope. And all around us, beside us and behind us, multiple sunbeams spotlighted individual clouds, like Hollywood vignettes of move stars. It was like God had tossed dozens of glow-in-the-dark paint-buckets up in the sky just to see where they’d land!

The psychedelic panoramic display stopped me in my tracks, and I did a little dance around Ron.

He knew why. “The clouds again?” he smiled, walking on.

I could only beam at him and exclaim, “It makes me happy!”

It does! It makes me happy to be me. And I think it makes God happy too!

You, Your Hobbies, and God

Talk with God about your hobbies. Below are some prompts that might help. Consider journaling your conversations with God, and have fun with Him!

• Eric Liddell said, “I believe God made me for a purpose, but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure.” Tell God, "I believe you made me for a purpose too, but you also made me ____ . And when I _____ , I feel your pleasure." (Fill in the blanks with your hobbies or recreational pursuits, then talk back and forth with God about them.)
• God, I sometimes feel guilty when I want to do certain things recreationally, because I worry that they’re not worth the time or money to me or to your Kingdom. Let me tell you my dreams, and you speak to my heart.
• God, how do you want to give me personal joy, freedom, and inspiration through my hobbies?
• God, how do you want to work through my hobbies to glorify yourself?
• God, show me what you’d like for me to learn from this blog about my hobbies and recreational interests. Let’s talk about it.

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