“Play Without Ceasing”

Here’s a talk I gave at the annual Torrey Memorial Bible Conference at Biola (Oct 8, 2025). The conference theme commended the virtue of being “Childlike,” and I developed that idea by sketching out a practical theology of play. This is pitched for undergrads, but I hope it rings a bell for others as well.

“Inside of you is a serious Christian who knows the truth and wants to serve God with all your heart, and a silly goose.”

(Here’s the scripted opening of the talk, after which it loosens up and follows the quotes and images which are integrated into the video; thanks Biola production team!)

I’m here to commend the value of playfulness, and I intend to do it in dead earnest.

My thesis is that our life is too serious/ and our work is too important, and our God is too great, for us to let ourselves get crushed under relentless, humorless solemnity. Precisely because we are called to such great things in such dangerous times by such a great God, we need a spirit of playfulness and a sense of humor. And I’m not just recommending that you make sure to take some time off and add a little bit of play in your leisure time. What I hope to convince you of, the secret that I want to let you in on, is that the posture of playfulness has to be permanently placed right in the middle of our most important projects. Hence, “Play Without Ceasing.” We were intelligently designed to run on fun. The race itself is serious business, but we run on fun.

So here’s how we’ll proceed: I’m going to introduce three topics of great importance, and then show how playfulness helps. The see-saw in each case will be from a serious start that may just begin to increase your background anxiousness, to the sweet relief of playful resolution and refreshment. So that’s the teeter-totter: serious/fun, serious/fun. It’s a healing service, but first it’s a wounding service.

We’ll cover three areas marked out by three questions:

Pray Without Ceasing?

Wholehearted Service?

Imitate God?