Is It OK for Christians to Celebrate Christmas?

As we come towards the end of each year, most Christians start making preparations to celebrate Christmas. The vast majority of believers just celebrate this festival without thinking twice about it.

There are, however, some Christians who refuse to celebrate Christmas. They claim that doing this is against the will of God, and they give a number of arguments to try to make their case.

I am someone who sides with the majority in believing that there is nothing wrong with celebrating Christmas. In what follows, I will give some objections that are sometimes made to doing this, along with my responses.

When I have done that, I will then say a few words about some problems that are often connected with how Christmas is celebrated.

Objection:

The word ‘Christmas’ derives from the words ‘Christ’ and ‘mass’. ‘Mass’ here refers to the Roman Catholic rite that wrongly claims that the bread and wine eaten at the Lord’s Supper literally become the body and blood of Christ. So in times gone by ‘Christmas’ referred to an occasion when the problematic Catholic rite of mass was performed.

The bad origins of what this word referred to show that it is wrong for Christians to celebrate Christmas today.

Response:

It is true that the word ‘Christmas’ used to mean this. And it is also true that there are serious problems with the Roman Catholic rite of mass.

Importantly, however, the meanings of words often evolve away from their root meanings. What is important is what words mean today, not what they used to mean.

There are actually some striking biblical examples of where words that once referred to something evil are used to refer to something else.

For example, in Revelation 20:13 John uses the Greek word ‘hades’ to refer to the realm of the dead. However, at an earlier time (and actually also sometimes still in the first century AD) this Greek word was used to refer to Hades, the pagan god of the underworld, i.e., a false god of a false religion.

Clearly, John had no problem with using this word, despite its history. At the time when John wrote Revelation, this word could be used to refer to the realm of the dead, and that was good enough for him. And it was obviously also good enough for the Holy Spirit who inspired his words.

In the same way, the fact that the word ‘Christmas’ used to refer to mass is irrelevant. Today, when people refer to ‘Christmas’, they are not using this word to refer to mass, and that is what counts.

Objection:

In ancient times the pagan festival of Saturnalia, which involved worship of the false god Saturn, was celebrated on 25 December. Then Christians, influenced by Saturnalia, started celebrating Christmas on that date.

There is therefore a connection between Christmas and the demonically inspired Saturnalia. So Christians should steer clear of Christmas.

Response:

First, although Saturnalia was celebrated in mid-late December, it seems mostly not to have been celebrated specifically on 25 December.

Second, it is actually debated whether Christians started celebrating Christmas on 25 December because they were influenced by the timing of Saturnalia.

Third, even if Christians were influenced by the timing of Saturnalia, the choice of date for celebrating Christmas could have been intended to rival Saturnalia rather than because Christians were compromising on their values.

Fourth, even if some Christians did compromise on their values at that time, it is what people understand Christmas to mean today that counts. And today Christmas has nothing whatsoever to do with Saturnalia.

Objection:

The Bible knows nothing of celebrating Christmas. In the absence of any biblical instruction to do this, it is a mistake.

Response:

First, Christians who celebrate Christmas are, above all else, celebrating the coming of Jesus to earth, and the Bible obviously does celebrate this.

Second, as far as celebrating Jesus’ coming to earth on a certain day of the year is concerned, this objection, to a certain extent, misunderstands the nature of the Bible.

The Bible was never designed to give us a complete list of things to avoid or not avoid. Life is too complex with too many variations. If Scripture had been intended to do this, it would need to be many, many times longer than it is, and it would be unusable.

As far as Christian living is concerned, the Bible gives us principles that we need to build into a healthy, God-honouring way to live our lives. So the fact that Scripture gives no specific instruction to take a day of the year to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ is beside the point.

Third, a verse that is relevant for this topic is Romans 14:5, where Paul writes:

‘One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.’ (ESV)

It is true that here Paul is referring first and foremost to days of the seven-day week. But we can certainly expand what he says to include days that occur just once a year. And Paul clearly thinks that whether or not to treat a day as special is down to an individual Christian’s conscience.

Objection:

The practice of bringing trees inside the home stems from pagan customs that celebrated evergreen trees in some superstitious way.

Therefore, Christians should keep away from this aspect of Christmas, because of its pagan roots.

Response:

Again, it is what things symbolise today that counts, and today Christmas trees are typically just ornamental with no deeper meaning.

Problems connected with how Christmas is often celebrated

None of the arguments that I have listed leads us to think that it is wrong for Christians to celebrate Christmas.

That said, there are certainly some highly relevant moral issues to do with the way that Christmas is celebrated in Western countries.

For a start, the way that Christmas is commercialised is nothing short of horrendous. Many people, in effect, use remembering Jesus’ coming to earth in self-sacrifice as a means of making as much money for themselves as they can. There is a real irony in this.

One thing I personally hate is when anything to do with Christmas appears in the shops before December. Sadly, however, this often happens several months before December. And the motive is all about making money. It really is bad.

Christmas is also used by many as an excuse for immoral behaviour. Workplace Christmas parties, for example, often lead to drunkenness and sexual immorality. And at Christmas time many people allow their greed for food to go unchecked. There is no doubt that these are things that deeply grieve the Lord.

Another thing I think is problematic is the whole idea of Santa. It doesn’t seem right for parents to lie to their children to make them think that some supernatural figure has travelled through the air to give them presents.

It is absolutely right that parents should want their kids to have a great time at Christmas. But there are many ways to do this that don’t involve creating a deceptive story in which a character behaves supernaturally without any reference to God.

Doing it right

Celebrating Christmas is all well and good. It’s not compulsory for Christians to do this, but it’s not wrong either.

But for those of us who do celebrate it, we need to remember that it is mainly about how God humbled Himself to become Man for our sake.

It isn’t wrong to meet up with family and friends, give and receive presents, eat plenty of good food, take some time to rest, etc., etc. But at its heart, Christmas is a story of the ultimate gift of Jesus Christ Himself.

 

See also:

Christians Need to Put Everything to the Test

The Bible, God’s Voice and Useful Information

Should Christians Treat One Day of the Week as a Special Day?

Nothing Is Sinful Because It Is Pleasurable

Was It God Who Brought Suffering on Job?

The experience of Job, described in great detail in the book that bears his name, is one of the classic biblical examples of suffering.

In the book Satan asks God for permission to attack Job, God allows it, and then Satan goes on to cause Job intense and almost unbearable suffering.

Job’s suffering is said to come from God

One of the things that the book of Job tells us is that the suffering Satan inflicted on Job came from God. There is no doubt that this is what the book teaches.

Immediately after the first series of disasters that struck Job – losing his animals, servants and children – we are told in Job 1:20-22:

‘20 Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. 21 And he said, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22 In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong.’ (ESV)

Job’s words in v. 21 clearly show that he believes that what he has just lost was taken away by God. It is true that Job doesn’t know about Satan asking for God’s permission to hurt him. Nevertheless, there is no suggestion in the text that Job is making a mistake when he says that God has taken away what he has lost.

Furthermore, the comment by the narrator in v. 22 seems to take it for granted that God did indeed take away what Job has lost.

Similarly, in Job 2:10, after Job has contracted an awful disease and his wife has told him to curse God and die, we are told:

‘But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.’ (ESV)

In this verse ‘evil’ doesn’t mean moral evil but refers to suffering.

Again, there is no doubt that Job believes that the disease he has contracted is something that came to him from God. And again too, there is no suggestion in the text that Job is mistaken.

What is more, as with the previous passage, the comment of the narrator at the end of the verse seems to imply that Job’s disease came to him from God’s hand.

In the passages I have just cited there seems to be no good reason for thinking that Job is mistaken when he attributes his sufferings to God’s actions. However, some readers of this article might not be convinced by this.

Crucially, however, there is another passage in Job which teaches the same thing and which cannot reasonably be understood as a mistaken idea.

In Job 42:11, right at the end of the book, the narrator says:

‘Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him.’ (ESV)

Again, ‘evil’ in this verse is not moral evil but refers to suffering.

The comment here that the LORD brought evil on Job is not something that Job says but is a comment of the narrator, i.e., the inspired author. Although in the book of Job there are many wrong ideas about suffering that need to be corrected, importantly, never in this book does the narrator make a mistake. Job and his friends have some wrong ideas about things, but this never, ever applies to the narrator.

Just as importantly, in chapter 42 we have reached a place in the book where wrong ideas have been left behind.

All things considered, then, we should have no hesitation in saying that the book of Job portrays Job’s sufferings as coming to him from the hand of God, as well as from the hand of Satan.

A suggestion for how to understand this

So how are we to understand this? What Satan does to Job is certainly a morally evil thing. So if the book of Job says that what Satan did to Job came from God’s hand, does this mean that God is complicit in moral evil?

Not at all! I would suggest the following as a way to think about this:

For Satan to hurt Job, two crucially important decisions had to be made. First, Satan had to make a clear and specific decision to hurt Job if he was able. And second, God had to make a clear and specific decision to allow Satan to hurt Job. If either of these decisions had not been made, Satan would not have hurt Job.

God’s decision to allow Satan to hurt Job was so essential for Job’s sufferings to happen, that in a sense what happened to Job came from God’s hand.

This is not to say that Job’s sufferings came to him from Satan and from God in the same sort of way. The sense in which his sufferings came from Satan’s hand is very different from the sense in which his sufferings came from God’s hand.

Nor is it to say that God caused Satan to choose to hurt Job. God only permitted Satan to do his evil work. But God’s permission was so crucial in enabling Satan to hurt Job that the book of Job describes what happened to Job as coming from God’s hand.

The same is true any time we are sinned against

There is no good reason for thinking that the place of God in our sufferings today is any different from the place of God in Job’s sufferings.

Any time you or I suffer something, God has made a clear and specific decision not to stop it, and in that sense it has come to us from His hand. He could have stopped it, but for wise reasons mostly beyond our understanding, He has chosen not to.

This includes times when someone sins against us. God could have stopped it but He deliberately chose not to, so in that sense the suffering that we have experienced from the sinner has come from God’s hand.

This is not to say that God caused the sinner to commit the sin, or that He wanted the sinner to commit the sin, or that He doesn’t hate the sin, or that He doesn’t care about what we go through, or that He doesn’t love us. But it is to say that God is totally in control of what He does and doesn’t allow to happen to us.

Not only is God totally in control of this, but we also we know from Romans 8:28 that all the things experience, including our sufferings, work together for our good. And we can take great comfort from knowing that.

 

See also:

Charismatic Churches and Their Attitude to Hardship

Some Things for Christians to Do When They Are Hanging on by Their Fingernails

Taking Heart from the Apostle Paul’s Experiences of Setbacks and Failed Plans

What to Do If You Feel Like Blaming God for Something

What Does It Mean to Be in the World but Not of the World?

In John 17:14-16 the Lord Jesus, speaking to God the Father, says this about His followers:

‘14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.’ (ESV)

There are a few points that need to be made immediately about this passage.

First, in verses 14 and 16 Jesus is explicit that His followers ‘are not of the world’, and He clearly approves of them not being of the world.

Second, in v. 15 He tells His Father that He is not asking Him to take His followers out of the world. This obviously implies that His followers are in the world and that this is where they should be.

Third, the Holy Spirit inspired this passage to help Christians throughout the Christian era, and it would be a big mistake to limit what it says to Jesus’ followers who were on earth at the time He spoke these words. Instead, we can be sure that what the passage says also applies to Christians living at any time since.

If we sum up these points, then, we can say confidently that it is the will of God for Christians today to be in the world but not of it.

So what does it mean to be in the world? And what does it mean not to be of the world? Let’s take each of these questions in turn.

In the world

As far as being in the world is concerned, I would suggest that the main idea is that Christians need to be in quite close contact with non-believers who live in the world. Rather than isolating ourselves, we should be people who live lives and speak words that can be seen and heard by those around us as a means of drawing them to Jesus Christ.

We find this sort of thinking in Matthew 5:14-16, where Jesus teaches:

‘14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.’ (ESV)

Verse 16 shows that letting our light shine is about letting people see our good deeds. And this verse is also clear that the goal of letting people see our good deeds is that God will be glorified.

Another passage that is relevant here is 1 Corinthians 5:9-10, where the apostle Paul writes:

‘9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.’ (ESV)

Although Paul is about to go on in the following verses to say that Christians should keep away from people claiming to be believers who are unrepentant of various sins, in verses 9 and 10 he is clear that we should not keep away from unrepentant sinners who make no claim to Christian faith.

In fact, in Acts 19:31 Luke even says that Paul had ‘friends’ among the provincial officials of the Roman province of Asia. Importantly, no one could possibly have become a provincial official in Asia unless he supported the idolatrous temple of Artemis at Ephesus, which was in Asia. So, reading between the lines, Paul must have had friends who were serious idolaters. Of course, this doesn’t mean that they would have been his close friends, but they are still called his friends.

The combined weight of these passages suggests that it is always or at least almost always a bad move for Christians to live in some sort of isolated community, detached from society. Instead, we should be out there, living shoulder to shoulder with non-believers. This seems to be the main idea of what it means to be in the world.

I would also say that in any way that doesn’t involve us compromising on our values, we should live lives that are the same as the lives of non-Christians in the societies in which we find ourselves. We should do what our culture does except in areas where we think our culture is offensive to God.

The more similar our lives are to those of our neighbours, the more easily we will be able to build bridges with them.

Not of the world

As far as not being of the world is concerned, this is essentially about how followers of Jesus are aligned with God over against godless people. And this difference is perhaps most noticeable in the values of each group.

We should be in no doubt that in every part of the world, the value system of most people is a million miles from Christian values.

In Luke 16:15 the Lord Jesus even goes so far as to say:

‘For what is highly admired by people is revolting in God’s sight.’ (CSB)

This doesn’t mean that literally everything that the majority of people admire is revolting to God. But it does mean that a great many things are.

Take money as one example. Everywhere in the world we can find huge numbers of people chasing after money, hoping to gain satisfaction from it. Wealthy people are treated with awe, and wealthy countries are admired.

This is a tragic deception. God is not impressed one tiny bit by wealth, whether of a person or a country. This whole way of thinking is like some sort of dazzling light show that has no substance to it.

Or take the pursuit of pleasure. Vast numbers of people channel their efforts into gaining as much self-centred pleasure as they can, whether in sexual relationships or by other forms of self-indulgence.

This is another road to nowhere. It is true that God created pleasure, and in many contexts God-honouring pleasure is not a bad thing. However, when it is treated as a goal to be pursued without reference to Him, it is very harmful.

As another example, we can think of prestige. For many people, it is extremely important that others think highly of them. They will go to great lengths to impress people, and they love nothing more than to see the looks of respect on people’s faces at their achievements.

Again, this is a chasing after the wind.

What impresses God is a set of qualities that is vastly different from the above. What He wants to see in human beings is morally upright qualities and values, and especially love, both love for God and love for other people.

Mark 12:28-34 tells us that on one occasion a Jewish scribe asked Jesus what the most important commandment in the Law of Moses was. We might have expected Jesus to reply with some cryptic or indirect statement as He sometimes does when He is questioned elsewhere in the Gospels. But on this occasion the reply was direct and to the point:

‘29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”’ (ESV)

This is what God wants to see. This is what it means not to be of the world, when people pursue love, firstly for God and secondly for other people.

A renewed commitment

Writing this article has encouraged me to renew my own commitment to being both of the things I have talked about. I want to be thoroughly in the world, and I also want to be thoroughly not of the world.

I would encourage readers of the article to join me in renewing their own commitment to these things.

 

See also:

The Radical Nature of the Normal Christian Life

The Importance of Telling Others about Our Experiences of God

What Counts as True Success in Life?

God’s Values Don’t Change with the Times

Don’t Underestimate the Value of Little Acts of Kindness

I was talking recently to a Christian friend of mine who is suffering a lot from poor health. He was lamenting how little he is accomplishing for God, and I think it would be fair to say that he viewed his life at the present time as a failure in God’s sight.

I took, and still take, a very different view on what this man is achieving for God. It is certainly true that he is restricted in what he can do. However, he does what he can. He is able to help other people in various little ways, like by walking their dogs, and I think God is very pleased and glorified by all this.

Matthew 10:40-42

When we turn to the Bible, we find the Lord Jesus speaking very highly of little acts of kindness.

One key passage is Matthew 10:40-42, where Jesus says:

‘40 Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me. 41 The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet’s reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person’s reward. 42 And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.’ (ESV)

The first two verses of this passage refer to ‘receiving’ various people: apostles, Jesus, God, prophets and righteous people. In this context to receive a person must mean to welcome that person positively and to act so as to benefit or please them.

In verse 40 ‘you’ refers firstly to Jesus’ 12 apostles, as Matthew 10:5 makes clear. So this verse is saying that to receive an apostle counts as receiving Jesus and God.

However, there is no doubt that receiving Christians other than apostles would also count as receiving Jesus and God. Note how verses 41 and 42 both refer to receiving or helping a wider group of Christians than just the 12 apostles, and there should be no doubt that the principle in verse 40 should also be expanded to include Christians generally.

This means that when we do good to a fellow Christian, in a real and deep sense there is a Godward dimension to what we are doing. We are pleasing God Himself, and the importance of this can hardly be overstated.

We can note also that v. 41 tells us that when a Christian receives a prophet or righteous person because that person is a prophet or righteous person, that Christian will receive the reward due to the prophet or righteous person. This is quite astonishing. Just welcoming a Christian who is in one of these categories entitles the welcomer to the reward due to the person in that category! Again, we can see that the value Jesus puts on welcoming and helping fellow Christians is enormous.

Verse 42 also points firmly in the same direction.

In this verse ‘little ones’ is surely a reference to Christians generally rather than to children. See how ‘little ones’ and ‘because he is a disciple’ refer to the same group of people. And children are not mentioned in the context.

Note how Jesus goes out of His way in this verse to describe the smallest possible gift. The recipient of the gift is not a group of Christians but just one Christian. The gift is not wine but just water. The amount of water is not a barrel but just a cup. And the water isn’t even heated but is cold.

So in human terms this gift is minuscule. But Jesus is adamant. Whoever gives a gift like this to a fellow Christian will in no way lose his reward. Once again, we can see that the importance Jesus attaches to performing little acts of kindness for fellow Christians is huge.

Helping non-Christians as well as Christians

The passage we have looked at teaches about the importance of practical acts of help for fellow believers. And it is true that we should normally prioritise helping fellow Christians over non-believers (Gal 6:10).

However, there is no doubt that God is also very pleased by similar acts of kindness towards those outside the family of faith. In Matthew 5:43-47 the Lord Jesus teaches how we should love even our enemies, i.e., those who oppose us. If we should do good even to those who oppose us, it is certainly right for us more generally to help non-Christians when they are in need.

Pleasing God for eternity

As we have seen, God is pleased by acts of kindness, even by ones that are humanly speaking very small.

It is helpful for us to try to grasp the magnitude of what it means to please God. God is the Creator of time, dwelling outside time and eternal. So if a human being pleases God in any way, the pleasure God derives from that action is eternal. It will never fade away.

Therefore, if you or I perform an act of kindness to someone, even a minor one, God is more pleased than He would be otherwise, and He will remain more pleased eternally. It is a kind of infinite thing.

In view of this, let us renew our efforts to be the sort of people who are often taking opportunities to help others with acts of kindness.

 

See also:

The Ministry of Kindness

Christians Must Be Generous in Giving to the Poor

The Importance of Sympathy and Empathy in Christian Living

In What Order Should Christians Choose to Help People?

Nothing Is Sinful Because It Is Pleasurable

It is not that uncommon to come across non-Christians who think that the Christian faith is, to some extent, against people experiencing pleasure. And this thinking is one reason why some are put off our faith.

Reasons why some people think that the Christian faith is negative towards pleasure

There are two reasons why some non-believers connect our faith with a negative attitude towards pleasure.

First, there are some Christians who, to a certain extent, really do view pleasure negatively. So when non-Christians encounter Christians who think this, they sometimes assume that this attitude towards pleasure is a standard part of the Christian faith.

Second and more importantly, some non-believers see Christians opposing various things that give pleasure, such as getting drunk or having sex outside marriage, and they often just assume that the reason we oppose these things is because they are pleasurable.

The result of these two factors is that there is an impression among some non-Christians that the Christian faith is, to some extent, against people experiencing pleasure.

God is positive about pleasure

It can hardly be overstated how wrong it is to think that the Christian faith is against pleasure.

To begin with, we need to understand that God Himself experiences pleasure. The Bible is full of references to God taking pleasure in people and things.

For example, in Psalm 149:4 we read:

‘For the LORD takes pleasure in his people . . .’ (ESV)

What is more, even before God made the universe, the love relationships in the Trinity between Father, Son and Holy Spirit undoubtedly caused God a tremendously deep source of pleasure.

Secondly, a major part of God’s purpose in creating humans was so that we could experience pleasure – first and foremost pleasure in God Himself, but also pleasure in human relationships of various kinds and in other aspects of creation.

To put it bluntly, God is thoroughly in favour of people experiencing pleasure.

Things are not sinful because they are pleasurable

If something is against God’s will, it is important to understand that there is always some reason other than it being pleasurable that makes it sinful.

So, for example, getting drunk is not sinful because it is pleasurable, but because it causes people to lose self-control. Losing self-control can lead people to do unwise things, and it also fits poorly with the dignity of human beings as creatures made in the image of God.

Similarly, sex outside marriage is not sinful because it is pleasurable, but because God designed sex to cement the marriage relationship between husband and wife that mirrors the relationship between Christ and His church.

It is crucial to understand that God is not a kill-joy. He isn’t against pleasure. There is no activity that is sinful because it is pleasurable. The world as God made it is simply not like that.

A special case

Despite what I have just said, there is one kind of situation where pleasure is a problem in and of itself. This is when people treat pleasure as an idol and seek it more than they should.

Sometimes a person can become obsessed with seeking after pleasure, and in that sort of situation there is a sense in which pleasure itself is a problem for that person.

However, the point still stands that in terms of what any particular activity involves, it is not the pleasure derived from an action that makes it sinful. It is always something else.

Living in a time of war

If Adam and Eve had not fallen into sin, and if there had been a human race that had never sinned, everyone would have experienced nothing but great pleasure all the time.

Similarly, after we die or Jesus returns to earth, our lives will be nothing but pleasure, and this is what God will want.

However, the reality is that the human race has fallen into sin, those of us now on earth have not yet died, and Jesus has not yet returned. This means that it isn’t possible right now for us to experience pleasure all the time. Although pleasure should be a part of our lives, suffering is also unavoidable to a certain extent. We are living in a kind of wartime, when normal peacetime activities can’t always be enjoyed.

In 2 Timothy 2:3-4 Paul tells Timothy:

‘Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him.’ (ESV)

There should be no doubt that these words are meant to apply to all Christians. We are all soldiers of Christ Jesus, and soldiers can expect to experience hardships of various kinds. A time will come when suffering and hardship become things of the past, but that time is not yet.

Correcting wrong ideas

When we come across non-Christians who have wrong ideas about the attitude of the Christian faith towards pleasure, it is worth trying to correct those ideas if we have an opportunity.

As I have already noted, some non-believers are put off our faith because they think that it views pleasure negatively to a certain extent. When people decide not to follow Jesus and reject the salvation that is in Him because of wrong thinking like this, it is a real tragedy.

If we can help them to view things correctly on the real Christian attitude towards pleasure, for some it may make the difference between the decision to accept Jesus as Saviour and Lord and the decision not to.

It is also worth trying to correct the thinking of Christians who have a poor understanding in this area. Some believers view God as more severe than He really is, and they seem to imagine that to some extent He is against us experiencing pleasure. If we can help them see reality better on this topic, it could only aid them in their relationships with the Lord.

 

See also:

Charismatic Churches and Their Attitude to Hardship

Is There Any Place for Entertainment in Church Services?

How and Why Should Christians Rejoice?

What Is the Christian Faith Really All About?

Missing Out On Things In Life Doesn’t Matter At All

The Bible clearly teaches that there are some good and enjoyable things on this earth that will not exist after death.

Even though Scripture promises enormous blessings for God’s people after they die, it is clear too that some God-given and enjoyable things that can be found on this earth of ours will cease to exist.

Enjoyable things on this earth that will not exist after death

There are a number of things that fall into this category.

For example, the Bible teaches that after death there will be no marriage or having children (Matt 22:30; Mark 12:25; Luke 20:35). This means that Christians who never get married or have children here on this earth will never, ever have an opportunity to do these things.

Similarly, the Bible teaches that this earth will come to an end and be replaced by the new earth (Isa 65:17; 66:22; 2 Pet 3:10-13; Rev 21:1), and it seems very unlikely that the geography of both earths will be exactly the same. If this is right, it means that Christians who never visit amazing places on our earth will never, ever have an opportunity to visit them.

Sadness about missing out on these things

It seems clear to me that some Christians, who don’t experience some of these things here on our earth, have a certain sadness about the prospect of forever missing out on them. They understand that the blessings for God’s people after death will be enormous, but they feel disappointed to a certain extent that they will permanently miss out on things that exist here and now.

This especially concerns getting married and having children. These are obviously huge and life-changing events for those who experience them, and for some believers the thought of forever missing out on these things is a painful one.

This thinking is completely wrong

Although at first sight it might seem reasonable for Christians to think in this way, it actually doesn’t make sense.

I am not saying that it doesn’t make sense for Christians to feel pain about missing out on these things here and now. For example, a Christian might suffer being single and long to be married here and now. Or someone without children might suffer and long to be a parent here and now. Or someone who is unable to travel far from where they live might be disappointed that they are unable to do this here and now.

Suffering in these ways does make sense. I am not suggesting that Christians who suffer these things shouldn’t be suffering. Missing out on good things that God created does hurt and it makes sense that it hurts.

My point is that being upset at the thought of forever missing out on things doesn’t make sense. And the reason for this is simple. When we are with Jesus after death, from that time forward we won’t care at all that we missed out on anything while we were here on this earth, and from the perspective of the present almost all of our future will be with Jesus after death.

The vastness of our blessings after death

It is impossible to overstate the size of the blessings that will come our way after we die or the Lord returns to earth.

In 2 Corinthians 4:17 the apostle Paul says:

‘For our momentary light affliction is producing for us an absolutely incomparable eternal weight of glory.’

In this verse Paul is contrasting the sufferings of Christians here on our earth with the blessings we will experience after death.

It is actually not straightforward to translate the original Greek of the verse into English. Paul seems to get a bit carried away with the language he uses, and he literally describes the size of the eternal weight of glory we will experience as ‘according to excess towards excess’. This could be translated as ‘absolutely incomparable’ or ‘utterly enormous’ or ‘unspeakably gigantic’ or ‘exceedingly vast’ or something along these lines.

It really is difficult to find words to describe how wonderful and joyful our lives will be when we get into the immediate and visible presence of the Lord Jesus after death or His return to earth. And it is not possible that in that state we will have any feelings of sadness about what we missed out on while we were on this present earth. And that state will last forever!

It doesn’t matter what we miss out on

So for millions and millions of years on into an infinite eternity we won’t care at all about what we missed out on here on this earth. Therefore, because our future here on this earth is as nothing in length to our future on the future earth with Jesus, and because our future on the future earth will be nothing but happiness, it makes no sense to feel sadness now at the prospect of forever missing out on enjoyable things that exist on our earth.

It would only make sense to feel sadness now about this, if after death the blessings we will experience will not be all that great. But Scripture simply won’t allow us to think that this will be the case. The blessings after death will be vastly greater than the most enjoyable thing here on this earth.

Or perhaps it might make sense to feel sadness now about this, if after death from time to time we were going to feel some regret about what we had missed out on while we were on this earth. But, again, Scripture won’t allow us to think that this regret will exist.

As Christians we need to be people who set our hopes fully on the unspeakably colossal blessings that God has promised us after we die or Jesus returns to the earth. Compared to that, it just doesn’t matter what we miss out on while we are on this earth.

So, although it may hurt us in the here and now to miss out on some of these things, a time will come when we couldn’t care less what enjoyable things we missed out on while we were on this earth. And because, from the perspective of the present, almost all of our future will be in that glorious state, it makes no sense to feel any sadness at the prospect of forever missing out on things that can be found on this temporary earth of ours.

 

See also:

Becoming a Christian Is the Ultimate Bargain

What Counts as True Success in Life?

How and Why Should Christians Rejoice?

Some Things for Christians to Do When They Are Hanging on by Their Fingernails

What to Do If You Feel Like Blaming God for Something

I think it would be right to say that it is common for Christians to feel like blaming God for things. Sometimes sufferings arise in our lives that we just don’t understand, and it is easy to feel unhappy with God as a result.

A little technique to use

I think if we feel like blaming God for something, it is helpful to do the following.

Imagine that Jesus, the God-Man, is sitting with you. And imagine that He is there to defend how He has treated you. In other words, imagine that He is speaking to you, explaining exactly why you have suffered the things that have made you upset with Him.

In His infinite wisdom, He would know exactly how to convince you that He hasn’t treated you badly.

You know that He would succeed in convincing you of this, don’t you? You don’t really think, do you, that if Jesus were trying to defend how He has treated you, He would fail to persuade you?

Deep down every Christian surely knows that this is true. If the Lord Jesus were to give a defence of how He has treated any of us, a defence tailor-made to what each of us can understand, what He said would be totally compelling. We would be sitting open-mouthed, amazed at how perfectly He had defended everything He had done to us and let us go through. We would see crystally clearly that He had not treated us badly and that what we had suffered made sense.

Of course, when we do feel like blaming God, Jesus isn’t actually sitting down with us, talking to us face to face. But what we need to do is accept by faith that His defence of how He has treated us would be totally convincing. Deep inside we know it’s true. So, walking by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7), we need to decide that we are going to trust His wisdom even if we can’t physically see and hear Him defend how He has treated us.

Blaming God is a sin

Although it is common for Christians to feel like blaming God, we need to be clear that blaming Him for anything is a sin. He is morally perfect and totally blameless in every way.

It is true that, when we are suffering, God wants us to tell Him all about how we feel. This means that if we feel blame towards Him, we should be honest and say this. We must always be one hundred per cent honest with Him about everything.

Of course, He won’t be shocked or even surprised by what we say. He already knows how we feel in every detail. But it is good for us to express our feelings to Him in this way.

Nevertheless, a Christian should never remain for an extended period of time with feelings of blame towards God. We know that blaming Him doesn’t make sense. Deep down we know that how He has treated us in no way conflicts with His goodness.

The example of David

Instead of blaming God for things in our lives, we do very well to follow the lead of David as seen in the Psalms.

When David was suffering, he poured out his heart to God. He pleaded with Him. But he stopped short of blaming Him. He never went so far as to actually say that God was to blame for anything.

For example, in Psalm 13:1-2 David says:

‘How long, O LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?’ (ESV)

It is true that at first sight, when David uses the words ‘Will you forget me forever?’ he seems to be blaming God for forgetting him. But it would be a mistake to take this too literally. This question needs to be interpreted in the light of verses 5-6, which end the Psalm:

‘But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me.’ (ESV)

We could perhaps say that in this Psalm David gets close to blaming God. We could maybe even say, because he was sinful like we are, that he experienced some feelings of blame towards God. But he stops short of actually blaming Him. He is expressing His frustration in a very vivid way. But he doesn’t go so far as to blame the Lord.

Summing up

The next time you feel like blaming God for something you have suffered or are still suffering, I would encourage you to do what I have suggested.

Imagine that Jesus is sitting down with you for the express purpose of defending how He has treated you, that He isn’t in a hurry, and that His defence is going to be tailor-made for what you are able to understand.

You know He would succeed, don’t you? You know you would become completely convinced that He hasn’t treated you badly.

So make a decision to accept this by faith. Apologise to God for blaming Him for anything, renounce the feelings of blame, and praise Him that He is with you to help you. And remember too that on the cross Jesus suffered more than you can imagine and that it was for you.

 

See also:

Some Things for Christians to Do When They Are Hanging On by Their Fingernails

Trusting God When We Are Not Sure What to Do 

How and Why Should Christians Rejoice? 

Taking Heart from the Apostle Paul’s Experiences of Setbacks and Failed Plans