by Dennis Abernathy<\/p>\n
I recently read this observation about today’s society: “Modern society wants entertainment instead of enrichment and a ‘good time’ rather than a ‘good life.'” Sadly, we see this played out in many people’s lives, and none of us are immune to the temptation to want the same.<\/p>\n
Instead of being spiritually enriched, many only want to be carnally entertained. Many are not interested in whether or not they are living a good life. Their priority is only to experience what they style “a good time!”<\/p>\n
Hedonism is defined as “The self-indulgent pursuit of pleasure as a way of life.” The pursuit of pleasure and entertainment predominates the lives of many people. Having a good time has become the avenue of happiness for some. It doesn’t mean that I think all entertainment is wrong, happiness is wrong, or having the right kind of good time is wrong. The truth is that clean entertainment isn’t wrong and even has some value. Helen Keller said, “Many persons have a wrong idea about what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” Thus, having a “good time” is not wrong as long as we don’t have to become less than good to have it!<\/p>\n
We must acknowledge that it is foolish and short-sighted to be so caught up in momentary gratifications that we forget what is important in life. Serving the Lord is where true meaning and purpose in life are found. Jesus said: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly<\/em>” (John 10:10). Knowing that one has forgiveness of sins, access to God in prayer, God’s Word for our daily guidance (Psalms 119: 105), spiritual blessings in Christ (Ephesians 1: 3), and encouragement of faithful people of God, we can have life in its fullness in this life with the hope of eternal life in Heaven with God after a while (Titus 1:3; 2:11-14).<\/p>\n What kind of life do you want? The choice is yours. Think on these things.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Dennis Abernathy I recently read this observation about today’s society: “Modern society wants entertainment instead of enrichment and a ‘good time’ rather than a ‘good life.’” Sadly, we see this played out in many people’s lives, and none of us are immune to the temptation to want the same. Instead of being spiritually enriched,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[759,41,375],"class_list":["post-67439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermon","tag-entertainment","tag-life","tag-pleasure"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50121,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-entertainment-the-devils-substitute-for-joy\/","url_meta":{"origin":67439,"position":0},"title":"Is entertainment the devil’s substitute for joy?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 7, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I recently listened to a sermon where the preacher said, if I remember correctly, \"Entertainment is the devil's substitute for joy. The more joy you have in the Lord the less entertainment you need.\" Is that so? Before becoming a Christian, I had these habits of reading and consuming\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28107,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-meaning-of-life-why-are-you-here\/","url_meta":{"origin":67439,"position":1},"title":"The Meaning of Life: Why Are You Here?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 20, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: I Timothy 6:6-21 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What is it that you are looking for out of life? What are you expecting? \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So many people never find contentment with their lives because they are expecting things that life cannot deliver. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They decide they can\u2019t be happy with life\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53799,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-do-people-seem-happy-living-in-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":67439,"position":2},"title":"Why do people seem happy living in sin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear brother, I write this to you ashamed, but I have to admit how I feel. I have been a Christian for many years now; however, I have struggled with sin in my life constantly. I feel as though it all stems from a rebellious attitude inside of me.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3801,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/gluttony\/","url_meta":{"origin":67439,"position":3},"title":"Gluttony (Hamilton)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 31, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey Hamilton Text: Numbers 11:4-34 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Someone, reading an article on the Roman Catholic teachings of the seven deadly sins, was surprised to find that gluttony included \u201ceating too soon, eating with condiments, eating too expensively, and eating with pleasing the palate in mind.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0He wrote to ask, if\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19472,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-life-all-about-god-and-never-about-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":67439,"position":4},"title":"Is life all about God and never about us?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 16, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Is life \"all\" about God and never about us? If so, are we ever allowed to enjoy personal pleasure for our own benefit? For example, marriage could be considered personal pleasure in that a relationship, future family, and sex are all involved. Or what about entertainment such as playing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":18863,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-gluttony-and-are-all-pleasure-seeking-activities-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":67439,"position":5},"title":"What is gluttony and are all pleasure-seeking activities wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I recently stumbled upon a Wikipedia article on\u00a0the Seven Deadly Sins, one of which is gluttony.\u00a0 I had always thought of gluttony as an immoderate consumption of food, but Catholicism apparently expands this definition to include: 1) eating too soon 2) eating with condiments 3) eating too expensively 4)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67439\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}