Is it wrong to relax?

Of course it’s not wrong to relax, right?

What if the question was a bit different? Is it wrong to relax if you could have used that time to tell someone about Jesus?

That question might seem unfair. You do love Jesus and want other people to learn about Jesus, but does that mean you can never relax?

Consider these similar questions. Is it wrong to eat at a nice restaurant if you could have used that money to give a larger offering to the church? Is it wrong for children to spend lots of time in a sports league when they could have used that time to study God’s Word? Is it wrong to use time and money to take a summer vacation when you could have given the money to the poor and used your time to help a neighbor with a project?

Those questions have a similar theme: Is it wrong to relax when so many need to hear about Jesus, when so much love needs to be shown to our world?

Said another way, if we ever do something that is not actively showing love to someone else, does that mean we are sinning?

Using time sinfully

There is a scary wrong answer to that question: “It’s just fine if I don’t think of others. It’s just fine if I seek first my own pleasure and not the kingdom of God.”

Our sinful flesh likes that scary wrong answer. It convinces us that we don’t have to think hard about how we spend our time. It convinces us that being busy is the only answer we need. If we are busy, we don’t have to consider whether God is authentically first in our lives or whether the pursuit of earthly success and pleasure has accidentally taken over.

How do you know whether your use of time is sinful? Some of these questions might help answer that:

• Are you more excited about going on vacation than noticing someone who needs help and finding a way to show love?
• Have you worked hard to encourage your children’s musical or artistic abilities, but taking time to help them regularly—even daily—grow in Bible knowledge runs a distant second place?
• Has it been exciting to model for a child how to shoot a basket or catch a ball, but your rebukes from God’s law have been less than loving, and the comforting words of Jesus’ forgiveness have sometimes been forgotten?
• Is it more enjoyable to spend money on yourself than to share with the owner of all a gift that says thank you for everything?
• Do you even defend your selfishness or mixed-up priorities by saying, “It’s not wrong to relax. It’s not wrong to have fun”?

Fun is not wrong, at least not inevitably, but it can be wrong. We so easily can get sucked into the same trap that the farmer who built barns for his bumper crop fell into (Luke 12:16-20). Our focus can be earthly success. Our focus can be our children’s earthly success. Our focus can be pleasures we have not yet enjoyed, only to enjoy them and then to need more. How does it benefit a person if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? We can have the world and die tonight as a fool.

When thinking about relaxation and fun, we may have sin to confess. “Dear Lord, there have been times when I resented the opportunity to show love. There are times when I may have given my children the impression that earthly success is more important than the spiritual strength of a young soul. There are times when I thought of my money as mine instead of yours. Forgive me.”

The miracle is that the Father has forgiven our sins. His Son is your salvation. The Spirit put God’s name on you at your baptism and has opened your eyes so that you now want your life—every bit of it—to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness.

Enjoying God’s gift of relaxation

God has given you purpose and time and gifts and opportunities. God has surrounded you with people you can love. You have friends to care for. You may have children to bring up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. God has made you a light in this dark world, a light that can shine life into the hearts of those who do not know their Savior.

This same God has also given you the joy of resting your body, going on adventures with your children, and sometimes just sitting on a porch or a shore and marveling at the beauty of God’s creation.

Relaxation and fun are gifts of God as well.

Your Savior himself rejoiced in relaxation. He could be part of a wedding feast, providing wine for guests (John 2:1-10). He could spend a long morning walking, and then, “tired as he was from the journey, [sit] down by the well” (John 4:6). He could welcome his 12 disciples back from a busy mission trip and say to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31).

There is more.

In 1 Timothy 6:17, the Lord says, “Command those who are rich in this present world . . . to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.”

Our God goes on to command us, as we are so blessed, to “be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share” (1 Timothy 6:18). We love being that blessing to others! But we also hear God say that he has given us blessings “for our enjoyment.”

It is exciting to look forward to a vacation and then see the joy of those you love as they play and discover—or maybe just do nothing. You care for your body as you take a break, permitting your mind to rest and your batteries to recharge. You show love as you throw a ball with a child, preparing him or her to experience the energy of competition, humility in victory, and grace in defeat.

You thank the Lord for the thrill of a new toy, not the focus of your life but a pleasure that makes you marvel all the more at the wisdom and love of your God.

We certainly can turn enjoyment into an idol that competes with God. . . . But relaxation need not be an idol.

Is it wrong to relax?

We certainly can turn enjoyment into an idol that competes with God. When that happens, how we thank the Lord for his forgiveness.

But relaxation need not be an idol. Yes, we praise the Lord for open doors to share Jesus with others. We praise the Lord for the privilege of showing all kinds of love to those around us. But we also praise the Lord for the chance to rest, to enjoy earthly blessings, to relax.

That too is a gift from God.

Ask a question at forwardinchrist.net/submit.

Author: Stephen Geiger
Volume 113, Number 06
Issue: June 2026