Sixth, all recreation must match a person’s fitness. The first consideration in recreation is physical fitness. Everyone must remember this while engaging in recreation. We expect our body to reap profit, not suffer loss through our recreation. If our body suffers through our recreation, we are violating the principle of recreation. We are here to improve our body. If a certain kind of recreation damages our body, something is wrong with that recreation. Suppose a man is sick with tuberculosis. If he wants to have any recreation at all, his recreation must not bring his health down. A sister who has a heart disease may need some recreation at times, but her recreation must serve to relieve her fatigue rather than to aggravate her heart disease.
When I was young, I had a friend who was a very evil person. After he believed in the Lord, he turned and became a wonderful person. Before his conversion, he loved basketball. After he was saved, he felt a little guilty about playing it. He decided to play it one more time and then quit. After that last game, he vomited blood and died. This was not recreation. It did not match his physical fitness at all. He thought that he could preach the gospel after he had enjoyed his game. He did not expect that he would die after that game. What a waste that was!
I hope we will realize that our body is the Lord’s. Our diversion is for the Lord. Our not having a diversion is also for the Lord. We do not do anything for ourselves. If we engage in some kind of diversion, we must remember that it is for the Lord. Also, if we forfeit diversion, we must remember that we are doing it for the Lord. Whether or not one has diversion, the principle is to not do harm to the body. It is always unwise to harm the body. It is not only wrong to harm our body with improper activities, but also wrong to harm our body with proper activities. The bodies of God’s children do not belong to them. In any kind of diversion, we must ask ourselves whether or not it will profit our body. Do it only if it is profitable. Do not do it just because you like to do it. Suppose a sister has a heart disease. If she sees a brother playing ball in the field and wants to join him, she may end up with more trouble. It is not wrong for the brother to be in the ball game, but it is wrong for the sister who has the heart disease to be in the game. We hope that God’s children will pay attention to this matter. Everything we do should be done for the service of the Lord. Even if we have a little diversion today, our goal in having it should be to better serve the Lord.
I do not want to see believers dying at a young age. I have always hoped that there would be more elderly brothers and sisters in the church. Please remember that being elderly in the world is different from being elderly in the church. In the world, the older one becomes, the more senile he becomes. The younger ones are the more progressive ones. However, in the church the older one becomes, the more advanced he becomes. In the world the younger ones cannot move forward unless the older ones die first, because the older ones are always a hindrance to the younger ones. However, it does not happen this way in the church. The older one becomes, the fresher he becomes, and the higher and deeper are the things he touches. A church is poor and defeated if it does not have any elderly brothers and sisters. I do not like to see brothers and sisters in the church passing away at a young age through the neglect of their own body. Instead of becoming a supply to the church, the lessons that the Lord has given them are wasted. The church should not incur such a loss. It cannot afford such a loss.
When we have sports and games, we cannot strive to break records as if we were athletes. Professional athletes are not motivated by the games themselves but by the desire to break records. We must play it as a game and play it to the benefit our body.