College is a time for forming lasting habits. For example, we can accustom ourselves to good food and exercise or to junk food and inactivity. A challenge for us as college students is finding the right place in our lives for entertainment, that is, the things we do in our free time to rest and relax. We would all agree that there are two extremes in entertainment which are unhealthy and best avoided. First there is the party-hardy pleasure-seeker whose thirst for entertainment results in more mornings of sleeping off hangovers than of studying in class. On the other extreme is the student whose burden of work and responsibility consumes every waking moment and whose life becomes a frenzied and lonely struggle to cope with rising stress and expectations. Where, however, do we find the healthy and God-pleasing middle ground, the place where we find enjoyment in life both from work and relaxation? Here are some thoughts on how entertainment can be both good and bad.

Entertainment can be a good thing first of all because it gives us opportunities to deepen our relationships with others. Sure, we know each other’s faces from walking the same hallways and sitting in the same classes. It takes, however, extra time—time for chatting and heart-to-heart conversations, time for fun and laughing, time for understanding personalities and mannerisms, time for victories and defeats in life—to develop personal friendships. By being involved with other people here at MLC, you’ll not only have fun, you’ll also deepen your friendships with the men and women who, God-willing, will one day be your coworkers in the public ministry.

Secondly, entertainment doesn’t have to be mindless and pointless. We can use entertainment to build up ourselves and the people around us. God has given each of us gifts for the good of his church. We can use our free time building and exercising those gifts. Find a fun way to exercise your body so you can keep it healthy. Find a way to build your mind—read a book or solve a problem. Can you sing? Sing! Do you have the gift of leadership? Take charge of a group! Can you help others? Have fun doing that!

Finally, entertainment is beneficial because it helps reduce stress. “What stress?” can be asked only with sarcasm. Stresses such as approaching deadlines, not-so-perfect relationships, financial worries, and physical exhaustion weigh heavily on all of us here at MLC. Although taking time off to relax is certainly not the only method to handle stress, it is one way that works. After stepping back and taking a breath of fresh air, we are once again focused and ready to tackle the work before us.

This is a good time to remember that our most important rest and relaxation is rest for our souls. God knew exactly what he was doing when he instituted a day of Sabbath rest for the Old Testament Israelites and when he tells us to find our Sabbath rest in Jesus. In Jesus, and only in Jesus, God gives us rest from our heavy burden of sin. He promises that he will be with us and will use even the most stressful difficulties for our good. Take Jesus’ example, whose idea of a break was to spend time teaching the Twelve or talking in prayer to his heavenly Father. Although we may not be used to classifying time with God as entertainment, may we always find it fruitful to exchange an hour of video games for an hour in prayer or in personal or group devotion. Remembering that we can serve our God even in our entertainment will help us avoid some of the wrong, worldly views of entertainment.

One wrong view of entertainment is what could be called the “Mexico mentality.” For those of you who don’t listen to any country music, Toby Keith wrote a hit song about a man and a woman who happen to meet in Mexico. They have an affair which is passionate and, as they both know, wrong. But, as the last line of the refrain keeps saying, “What happens down in Mexico stays in Mexico.” They can each go back to their lives and no one will know about it. This same mentality appears in someone who goes to a place like Las Vegas (whose current TV slogan happens to be “What happens here stays here”) in order to “let loose” for a weekend and then expects to return to work like normal on Monday. Consider also that there are some college students who flock to Florida’s “Spring Break” for a week of abusing their own and each other’s bodies and then expect to finish the school year as usual. Granted, these are crass examples, but do we, too, have a “Mexico mentality?” Do we hold ourselves to a looser standard when we’re having fun than when we’re not? Is our refrain sung, “What happens down at the bar stays at the bar,” or, “What happens among friends stays among friends?” In short, we must be careful that having fun isn’t turned into a license for sin.

Another wrong mentality is to view entertainment as a necessity. True, entertainment can be beneficial, but it is not essential. Many Americans seem to live for the weekends—they work hard so they can play hard. Do we look at entertainment as a need to which we have a right? Do we wish that Paul would have changed his words to “if we have food, clothing, and fun, we will be content with that”? I think we would each admit that, even with our busy schedules, we still manage to find a considerable amount of free time. We must be careful that we don’t clutch our precious entertainment too tightly when God is giving us other ways to serve him.

How should you and I balance work and entertainment? Certainly there are more things to consider than those contained in this brief editorial. Paul, however, gives us a good place to start when he writes in 2 Corinthians 5:15, “[Christ] died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.”

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