“When It’s Not Fun Anymore”
I was thinking recently about a famous couple who “called it quits” a few years ago. Of course, they were not married to each other. You wouldn’t really expect that from a thoroughly modern couple, would you? They had “been together” for a few years. In today’s social climate, and especially in Hollywood, that’s an accomplishment in itself. Sadly, it is becoming more and more of an accomplishment in far too many segments of our society.
I remember seeing a short clip of an interview with the woman who was no longer a part of this relationship. She was asked when a person “knows it’s over.” Her answer was, “When it’s not fun anymore.” She went ahead to explain (and tried to look very serious, convincing, and intelligent in doing so) that, when you have to start working at a relationship, you might need to consider whether the relationship needs to be continued.
If that doesn’t sum up much of what’s wrong with people today, I don’t know what does. How many times do people do one or more of the following “when it’s not fun anymore?”
- Dissolve a marriage
- Quit a job
- Abandon children
- Stop serving the Lord
- Stop attending worship services and/or Bible classes faithfully
- Change worship styles
- Fail to keep a promise
I am thinking of my father. Nobody would describe his relationship with my mother as “fun” as Alzheimer’s slowly and steadily took her away from him (and the rest of us) during the last years of her life.
I am also thinking of my mother-in-law. Her relationship with her husband would not have been described as “fun” at various times in their marriage and especially as his health deteriorated during his later years.
Why was it that, when both of our children got married, both sets of their grandparents had already celebrated fifty years of marriage? Why did my parents and my in-laws stay together all those years “for better or for worse?” Why didn’t somebody quit when he or she had to put some work into the relationship?
Was it because they’d had fun every day for over fifty years? —or — Was it because somebody, somewhere knew the meaning of commitment?
Think with me for a moment about the ultimate demonstration of commitment. Where would we be if, sometime during the arrest, the trials, the scourging, and the insults that were hurled at our Lord prior to His crucifixion, He would have said, “Wait! Let’s call this whole thing off. This isn’t fun anymore.”
As you think about your answer to that question, please consider another question:
Where do you find the word “fun” in your Bible?
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AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
