How to find the fun in your faith

I don’t remember when I became a Christian.

As far as I can remember, I’ve always been one. There are times I can look back on where things clicked more than others, but there’s not that one day where I look back and say, “That was the day!”

While I’ve always liked Jesus, there have been times in my life where I couldn’t stand Christians or church.

Part of my story is that I transferred to the world’s largest Christian university and for two and a half years didn’t step foot inside of Church.

I liked Jesus.

I didn’t like Christians.

Unfortunately, in my experience and likely in yours, the loudest Christians were the ones least like Jesus. In their attempt to follow him, they would tell me all the things I shouldn’t be doing.

Don’t listen to that music.

You shouldn’t be dressing like that.

How dare you go to that place!

It’s sort of a cliche today, but modern day pharisees were (and are!) a real thing.

Thankfully, I was lucky enough to have people around me who began to show me how my experiences, while personal to me, weren’t the way things had to be. Through those friends, professors, and pastors I began to realize that following Jesus is about a lot more than following rules or not having any fun.

This shift in thinking can be summed up in two sentences spoken on national television last night in a presidential debate. Governor John Kasich, when asked about his faith, said this:

I try to be a man of faith every day as best I can. I try to focus in my faith on the dos and I think the don’ts will take care of themselves once I get the dos right.

How great is that quote?

As Christians, we have two options when living out our faith:

1) We can focus on doing all the things Jesus said to do

or

2) We can focus on not doing all the things Jesus told us not to do.

What I’ve found is that the second option does nothing more than suck the life out of you. It’s surrounded in guilt and shame when you mess up. It wears judgment like the broken in hoodie that fits perfectly. Your entire life becomes about acting the “right” way and avoiding anything that has the potential to appear “wrong.”

That life is horrible.

I’m convinced many people who choose to have nothing to do with Christianity do so because the only representation they’ve seen is people living out option two.

On the flip side is option one.

Option one has adventure.

Freedom.

Excitement.

Sure, in our attempt to be like Jesus, we’re likely going to screw up and do stupid things. We’re broken people in a broken world. It’s a given.

But at least it’s in pursuit of something great.

If I’m running hard after the things Jesus invited me to run after and trip, it’s only a minor setback to the ultimate goal.

If my goal is to not mess up, my world is shattered in the moments after I do.

My hope for you is that you’ll get the most out of a life for Jesus. I want you to experience how fun it can be to chase after what you were created to be. I want you to make mistakes and know there’s grace and not condemnation.

I want you to live.

To your fullest.

Reaching every bit of the potential inside you.

Run to something great, not away from something bad.

Say your prayers and take your vitamins.

Have a nice day.

-Jonathan

PS – I’d love for you to take two seconds to rate this post below. It’s totally anonymous but it helps me improve as a writer and let’s me know what’s connecting with you the reader. Thanks a bunch!

PSS – If you get posts emailed to you, sorry you got this one twice. Technical error on my end.