What Does The Bible Say About Entertainment?

Caleb Suko

Entertainment is a huge portion of our life. Some estimate that the average American spends 4.5 hours on entertainment daily, or over 30 hours per week!

The entertainment industry worldwide is estimated at 2 trillion US dollars. The US alone accounts for around 700 billion US dollars. For comparison let’s look at the gdp of a few countries.

India has a gdp of 3 trillion

Canada has a gdp of 1.8 trillion

Saudi Arabia 686 billion

Nigeria has a gdp of 514 billion

Singapore has a gdp of 374 billion

Ukraine has a gdp of 164 billion

As a society we spent enormous quantities of time and money on entertainment. But we must not think only about society as a whole, rather we must also think about ourselves and our personal use of entertainment. I believe many of us would be unpleasantly shocked if we were shown accurate statistics about how much time and money we give daily, monthly, and yearly to entertainment.

But my point is not to guilt trip you for spending so much time on tiktok or Instagram or watching movies or playing games online. I simply want to point out what a significant role entertainment plays in our lives. Anything that can consume three or more hours of life daily will have a tremendous effect on how I think and how I live. It may also be a determining factor on whether or not I am successful in certain areas of my life. Thus, it is important that we think seriously about it and that we evaluate it by what God’s Word says about it.

What is entertainment?

To begin with, let’s ask one question: what is entertainment?

Wikipedia says:

Entertainment is a form of activity that holds the attention and interest of an audience or gives pleasure and delight.

More simply said, we can say entertainment is when we delight in things that are not absolutely necessary for us.

What can we consider entertainment?

• Movies, shows, plays
• Games
• Reading for pleasure
• Sports
• Hobbies
• Music
• Food
• Etc…

Some Christians hold extreme views: All entertainment is evil or conversely entertainment is the goal of life and the purpose of our worship services. Neither of these extremes are biblical. However, since we all engage in one form of entertainment or another we need to make sure that our entertainment is beneficial and pleasing to God. So let’s look at what the Bible says about entertainment.

Entertainment in the Bible

The first question we must ask is whether or not we actually see entertainment in the Bible. If we look closely we will find a number of examples of good and bad entertainment in the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament.

Music

First sign we see of entertainment is in the first book of the Bible

Genesis 4:21 NIV — 21 His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes.

We don’t know anything about Jubal except for the fact that it seems he invented or at least popularized different kinds of musical instruments. This seems to be a positive thing. At the very least we can say that God thought it was important enough to mention it in the genealogy.

God ordained feasts

Some of the feasts in the law seem to include times of relaxation and entertainment even in the context of worshiping God. Particularly we see this in the Feasts of Tabernacles. This was the last feast of the year and it lasted for 7 days with a great worship service planned for the 8th day. The Israelites were commanded to rejoice and to celebrate during these times.

Leviticus 23:40–41 NIV — 40 On the first day you are to take branches from luxuriant trees — from palms, willows and other leafy trees — and rejoice before the LORD your God for seven days. 41 Celebrate this as a festival to the LORD for seven days each year. This is to be a lasting ordinance for the generations to come; celebrate it in the seventh month.

Banquets

We find many banquets in the Bible. These were times of celebration, entertainment, and enjoyment. There are many bad examples such as festivities like that of King Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 5:4–6 NIV — 4 As they drank the wine, they praised the gods of gold and silver, of bronze, iron, wood and stone. 5 Suddenly the fingers of a human hand appeared and wrote on the plaster of the wall, near the lampstand in the royal palace. The king watched the hand as it wrote. 6 His face turned pale and he was so frightened that his legs became weak and his knees were knocking.

Nebuchadnezzar’s banquet didn’t honor God but rather became a place to worship idols of gold, silver, and bronze. Nebuchadnezzar was judged for this. Sadly, much entertainment today is connected with the worship of other gods.

Today people worship the god of pleasure, the god of fame, the god of beauty, the god of money, all in the name of “entertainment.” We must be careful with our entertainment.

It’s easy for “harmless” fun and a little “relaxation” to turn into something that looks a lot like idol worship.

Thankfully, we also find good examples of banquets in the Bible. The book of Esther is a book of 8 banquets. The first 4 banquets are not so good. But the last 4 are used by God in a great way. Esther decided to entertain King Xerxes and Haman at a 3 day long banquet in order to save the Jewish people. As a result another traditional feast or banquet came about known as “Purim”

Esther 9:22–23 NIV — 22 as the time when the Jews got relief from their enemies, and as the month when their sorrow was turned into joy and their mourning into a day of celebration. He wrote them to observe the days as days of feasting and joy and giving presents of food to one another and gifts to the poor. 23 So the Jews agreed to continue the celebration they had begun, doing what Mordecai had written to them.

Jesus and entertainment

It may seem strange to picture Jesus enjoying some form of entertainment, however, I think there is evidence that Jesus did partake in entertainment. The greatest evidence is that Jesus attended a wedding and participated in providing wine for the wedding guests. This wasn’t because people would die of thirst but rather in order to entertain the guests.

John 2:1 NIV — 1 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there,

Certainly there would have been some festivities at a wedding like this, there would have been music, there would have been dancing. Certainly Jesus took part in these things along with everyone else. He didn’t condemn them for it but rather joined them in it.

On another occasion some of John the Baptist’s disciples came to Jesus to ask him why his disciples weren’t fasting.

Luke 5:33–34 NIV — 33 They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.” 34 Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them?

Jesus indicates that it was an appropriate time for eating and drinking. He uses the metaphor of a wedding feast.

Jesus saw nothing wrong with taking delight in food and drink with his disciples while he was here on earth.

Don’t make entertainment the pursuit of your life

If you want to know what the Bible says about entertainment, one of the most revealing books is the book of Ecclesiastes. This book was written by David’s son King Solomon who had amassed great wealth and wisdom. Just imagine someone like Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerburg, or Jeff Bezos. Like them Solomon had enormous resources. He was nearly unlimited in what he could attain for himself. If he wanted it he got it. And he wanted a lot of things!

Ecclesiastes 2:1–11 NIV — 1 I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless. 2 “Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?” 3 I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly — my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives. 4 I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. 5 I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. 6 I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees. 7 I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. 8 I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well — the delights of a man’s heart. 9 I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me. 10 I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil. 11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

May we take notice how entertainment is a product of our hearts! Solomon makes a revealing statement when he says, “I refused my heart no pleasure.” When we talk about entertainment we must not only talk about whether or not a particular form of enteratian is good or bad, we must talk about the demands and expectations of our own heart.

Our entertainment choices indicate our heart’s condition.

You work because you have to, you study because you know it’s important, but entertainment is where you pursue your heart’s desire. Solomon shows us that a heart that is not limited by finances or by social boundaries will not find satisfaction.

The problem is when we make entertainment the pursuit of our lives. The pursuit of entertainment is never ending and it is destructive to our souls. It will leave us empty, disheartened, and hopeless. Unfortunately, many have practically replaced God in their lives with a love for entertainment and pleasure.

2 Timothy 3:4 NIV — 4 treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God —

Give entertainment it’s proper place

Just a few verses down we see Solomon shows us how entertainment can have a proper place in our lives.

Ecclesiastes 2:24–25 NIV — 24 A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, 25 for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

For the Christian, we find satisfaction in our toil as well as in our rest and entertainment. The problem that many run into is that they see their work as just something they have to get through in order to do what they really want to do. Solomon tells us that we ought to find satisfaction in both our toil and our enjoyment. How can we do this? This is only possible when we recognize God’s participation in our work and in our play.

“This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him who can eat or find enjoyment”

In order to put entertainment in its proper place we must first have God in his proper place!

1 Timothy 6:6–9 NIV — 6 But godliness with contentment is great gain. 7 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. 8 But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. 9 Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

I used to paint the homes of some very wealthy people in our city. These were nice, large homes, some costing well over a million dollars. They were beautiful homes and they were attractive to look at. Sometimes there was a little desire in me saying, “Caleb your life would be better if you lived in one of those homes.” Well at least I would like to try it out you know, just for a year or 10! Then I began working on those homes and I realized how much care it takes just to keep them looking decent. I realized I was much freer of worry and care to live in my small apartment. I had more time with my family and less worries.

We must learn to be content!

Contentment will change our perspective on entertainment! It will change our heart attitude towards entertainment.

Contentment will actually enable us to enjoy our entertainment more!

Entertainment should be pure

It’s important that we also think of the quality of our entertainment. Everything we consume will have an effect upon our mind and upon our heart.

Philippians 4:8 NIV — 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things.

Unfortunately, there is much entertainment out there that is evil today. It is full of evil words, evil ideas, and evil images. There’s enough evil around us already and some of it we simply can’t avoid so why should a Christian consume what is evil for fun?

Is your entertainment full of violence?

Does your entertainment have coarse language?

Is your entertainment sexually explicit?

Does your entertainment promote that which is against God?

Does your entertainment make fun of things that are good and approved by God?

Is your entertainment disrespectful or demeaning to others?

If you said “yes” to any of the above then you need to remove that form of entertainment from your life.

The list can go on. The point is this, you need to analyze your entertainment choices. There’s plenty of garbage out there that you shouldn’t be consuming, but there are good things out there too! So clean up your phone, clean up your computer, clean up your habits, and clean up your mind and heart.

Titus 2:12 NIV — 12 It teaches us to say “No” to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age,

Entertainment should be regulated

Sometimes even good forms of entertainment can become a bad thing when we don’t put them in their proper place.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4 NIV — 1 There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: … 4 a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

We must limit our entertainment to the proper time in our life and make sure we focus more on the serious issues of life and death.

Ecclesiastes 7:2, 4 NIV — 2 It is better to go to a house of mourning than to go to a house of feasting, for death is the destiny of everyone; the living should take this to heart. … 4 The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning, but the heart of fools is in the house of pleasure.

We can not and should not always be feasting! Take time for serious compilation, for mourning the dead, and for grieving with those who have lost loved ones. Contemplate the shortness of life and it will limit the amount of time you choose to give to entertainment!

Prioritize your work over your entertainment

Proverbs 6:6–8 NIV — 6 Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! 7 It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, 8 yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest.

God is the source of true entertainment

When you do find entertainment that pleases God and is in its proper place, you can know that this entertainment comes from God himself!

Psalm 104:14–15 NIV — 14 He makes grass grow for the cattle, and plants for people to cultivate — bringing forth food from the earth: 15 wine that gladdens human hearts, oil to make their faces shine, and bread that sustains their hearts.

God made certain things for our enjoyment and he takes joy when he sees that we derive some pleasure from these things. He gave us food, he gave us the beauty of nature, he gave us ears and music, he gave us eyes and art, he gave us our bodies and our appetites, he gave us sexual intimacy. These are all things we can and should enjoy in their proper time and proper place.

3 principles to evaluate our entertainment

1. Time

How much time am I giving to entertainment. Do I limit my time? Do I discipline myself to do my work first? Is my entertainment keeping me from fulfilling important responsibilities?

2. Type

What is the content of my entertainment? Is it pure, noble, healthy, and holy? Or is vile, corrupt, wicket, and hateful?

3. Treasure

What is my heart’s attitude towards my entertainment? Am I treasuring entertainment or God? Can I be content without this form of entertainment? Am I seeking God as the greatest treasure in my life?

Matthew 6:21 NIV — 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also

Ultimately entertainment is a heart issue, unless our heart treasures God, we will always be tempted to treasure some lesser god and often that is entertainment.