Fun First?

Straight AheadAccording to a news report, a new poll suggests that Americans value having fun at work more than they value making money! I guess that shouldn't surprise me. We started telling ourselves that school should be fun for kids. Then, we started trying to make sure people have fun in church. Now, adults want to have fun at work. Fun comes first! It's instant self-gratification. I've always said that if someone is doing a job they positively despise, they ought to change jobs. But having fun at work? That's not exactly what I meant! I enjoy most aspects of ministry; but I wouldn't necessarily say that ministry is fun! I didn't despise school when I was a kid. I viewed it as my job, like my father going to work; but I wouldn't say that I thought school was fun--except at recess. And church was never presented to me as something that should be fun. It was worshipful and reverent. It was God's house--but not fun! Whatever happened to the satisfaction that comes from accomplishment? What about the knowledge that you're taking part in the free enterprise system, contributing to the American economy? Some people are inspired, knowing that their job helps others--though the contempt some of these people have for profit and achievement is almost as disconcerting to me as the desire of others to have fun! And then, we come back to money. You can always have fun with the money--after you make it! Providing for our needs and those of our family, working so that over a period of time we can have a certain lifestyle--these things aren't fun, but they're important, long-term results of a life lived with responsible forethought. I'm preaching Sunday on 1 Corinthians 13. Near the end of that famous chapter on love, Paul says that when he was a child, he reasoned and spoke and thought as a child; but now that he is a man, he has put away childish things. I sometimes wonder if our society is simply in rebellion against adulthood and maturity. If enough people are putting fun first, I guess maybe the answer is obvious.