Are you an upbeat person who is always on the lookout for your next exciting adventure? Do you have an unlimited supply of optimism welling up within you? Would you rather explore the island than sit on the beach? If you answered, “Yes,” to these questions, you just may be an enthusiast!

Enthusiasts don’t like to miss out on exciting experiences. They are always on the lookout for what’s next. They don’t like to stay in one place or do one thing. They’d rather take risks and fail or even face embarrassment than repeat the same old tasks day in and day out. Rather than focus on negatives or dwell on the past, enthusiasts prefer to cheer up themselves and everyone around them.

What’s Great about Enthusiasts

Enthusiasts are like the spice we put on our food. They take life and add flavor, excitement, and zest. Their curiosity and penchant for adventure make them great trailblazers and discoverers. Their optimism and cheerfulness make them incredible coaches and cheerleaders. Their spontaneity and practicality make them great planners who also roll with the punches in the moment.

Enthusiasts are quick to overlook faults in themselves and others. Driven more by excitement than by fear, they are usually eager to face the future. They know that they’ll be fine; the ideas they need will come to them when the time is right. Spontaneously facing the unknown elicits excitement and rapt anticipation.

In Scripture, Barnabas serves as a good example of an enthusiast. He was a Levite from the island of Cyprus who sold a field and brought it to the apostles in the early days of Christianity (Acts 4:36-37). His real name was Joseph, but the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas, which means “son of encouragement.” When Paul first came to the apostles in Jerusalem after his conversion, no one would meet with him.

Acts 9:26–27 And when he had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and declared to them how on the road he had seen the Lord, who spoke to him, and how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus.

Everyone else was understandably worried about Paul. They probably thought Paul was trying to trick them in order to arrest them. Not Barnabas! No, Barnabas spent time with this fire-breathing Pharisee turned Christian. He was quick to overlook Paul’s past behavior and believe his story about how Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus. He brought Paul to the apostles and vouched for him.

Later on, when he saw the exciting multi-ethnic community emerging in Antioch, Barnabas took the initiative to go and find Paul in Tarsus and invite him to join the church. He could see the exciting opportunity of having Paul on the team there. To a large degree, Paul’s later missionary trips are the result of what happened in those early years in Antioch with Barnabas, ministering in a mixed community of Jews and Gentiles.

The Downside of Enthusiasts

Having an orientation of expectation and excitement toward the future is generally good for you. However, if you’re so future-oriented that you aren’t present in the here and now, you will miss out on much of the fulness of life, and others will feel marginalized by your lack of engagement. It’s easy to keep yourself busy all the time, so that you never become bored or feel negative feelings. Escaping from situations and thoughts is not a beneficial long-term strategy. Negative feelings are like smoke, telling us there is fire somewhere. Although some personalities can ruminate excessively on negative experiences and
regrets, enthusiasts tend to run from them at all costs. Neither strategy is advantageous for you.

A biblical example that comes to mind is King Solomon. Here is someone who married unbridled curiosity with unlimited resources. Most of us never have enough surplus to indulge our whims, desires, and dreams. Solomon did. Scripture describes his wealth as follows.

1 Kings 10:14–22  Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, besides that which came from the explorers and from the business of the merchants, and from all the kings of the west and from the governors of the land. King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels of gold went into each shield. And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold. The throne had six steps, and the throne had a round top, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests, while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom. All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

With wealth of this magnitude, there was nothing in the world he could not purchase. This is the ancient equivalent of winning the lottery over and over again until you have so much money you could never spend it all. Solomon was at that level of wealth. Additionally, he engaged in many pursuits, living his life to the fullest.

Ecclesiastes 2:1–10 I said in my heart, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure; enjoy yourself.” But behold, this also was vanity. I said of laughter, “It is mad,” and of pleasure, “What use is it?” I searched with my heart how to cheer my body with wine—my heart still guiding me with wisdom—and how to lay hold on folly, till I might see what was good for the children of man to do under heaven during the few days of their life. I made great works. I built houses and planted vineyards for myself. I made myself gardens and parks, and planted in them all kinds of fruit trees. I made myself pools from which to water the forest of growing trees. I bought male and female slaves, and had slaves who were born in my house. I had also great possessions of herds and flocks, more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem. I also gathered for myself silver and gold and the treasure of kings and provinces. I got singers, both men and women, and many concubines, the delight of the sons of man. So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil.

He tried it all: he partied; he farmed; he built; he exercised power; he collected; he became famous. To accomplish all this, Solomon must’ve had a prodigious drive within him. He must’ve asked himself over and over, “What’s next?” This passion for novelty showed up most glaringly in his love life. We read that Solomon pursued women with utter abandon. He married seven hundred women and brought another three hundred into his household as concubines. After wife number 15 or 150 or 500, why not stop? Why take on a thousand conjugal companions? What was he looking for? Perhaps it was escaping from the predictable. Perhaps it was the thrill of discovery. Perhaps it was unrestrained curiosity. We may never know. We do know, however, that this pursuit of his became his downfall.

1 Kings 11:1–8 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father. For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the LORD and did not wholly follow the LORD, as David his father had done. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites, on the mountain east of Jerusalem. And so he did for all his foreign wives, who made offerings and sacrificed to their gods.

With all the knowledge and wisdom, with all the gold and possessions, with all the success and fame, Solomon could not find satisfaction. His restlessness drove him to indulge. He married many Israelite women, but that wasn’t enough. He pursued marriages with foreign women, whether for political reasons or due to lustful curiosity—or both. In the end, his lack of self-restraint led to idolatry and the most unthinkable of sins—child sacrifice. Israel would not wait until evil Jeroboam or the
dastardly Manasseh to get its start in slaughtering babies to Molech. No, it was Solomon who invited the grizzly practice into Israel at the highest level. What a tragic conclusion!

Solomon’s heartrending end is a cautionary tale for all to consider. Novelties, adventures, and accomplishments cannot satisfy your soul. Even if you had all the money and power you needed to pursue whatever goals your heart desired, you wouldn’t find contentment in the end. Solomon’s summary is as follows.

Ecclesiastes 2:11 Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

In the end, he concluded all his triumphs and successes, his collections of exotic women and precious possessions, his mastery of knowledge and wisdom—all of it—was just chasing after the wind.

The Gospel for Enthusiasts

Notwithstanding Solomon’s heartbreaking example, enthusiasts are awesome people. They’re fun and spontaneous. Their bubbly personalities inevitably encourage and edify everyone around them. This is not a defect in their personality, but the wonderful way God made them. They genuinely love life and seek excitement wherever they can find it.

The good news for enthusiasts is that God has made a way to definitively deal with past mistakes, hurts, and sins. With such a bent towards what’s next, enthusiasts struggle to reflect on the past. Perhaps you say to yourself, “What’s the point of calling to mind bad things I’ve done?” Or you might think, “The past is behind me, I don’t want to feel the pain.” Yet, for you to avoid making the same mistakes over and over, you must do business with your past. It’s hard, and it hurts, but this is the path to a brighter future.

The fact is you have sinned. We all have. You have hurt people. You have even hurt yourself. Much of this may be unresolved, because you just put such memories out of your mind and pursue the next great adventure. You may have kept yourself so busy with life, developing new skills or conquering new challenges, that you haven’t faced the truth.

The truth is you don’t deserve eternal life. No one does. The truth is that all your skills, accomplishments, and possessions are ultimately chasing after the wind. The truth is you’re going to die.

The good news, however, is that God has made a way to cover your sins and give you a fresh start. On that old rugged cross, His beloved Son paid the price for all your sins. Have you ever truly faced this event? Take a moment. Place yourself at the scene. See the grey skies; hear the jeering mob; feel the horror of the cross with the man, bruised, bleeding, and struggling to breathe. Consider the agony, the injustice, the humiliation, the physical pain. Imagine his form, naked and crowned with thorns. Think about how hard it was for him to breathe, pushing up against the nails to empty his lungs and take another breath. Feel
his pain. Let it wash over you.

He went through all of that because of love.

Jesus is he “who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Revelation 1:5). Because of him, your past sins are truly wiped away once and for all. Hallelujah! What’s more, on the third day, God raised him from the dead, proving to everyone that this Jesus of Nazareth was, in fact, the Messiah—God’s anointed King to rule the world in the age to come.
As a result, we can confess Jesus as our King now. We can say, “Jesus is

Lord” and follow his way of life as a testimony of what will ultimately come about in the world on the last day. Enthusiasts who have truly done business with the cross make some of the best evangelists and missionaries. If you’re wired this way, you can’t help but tell the mailman, the grocery checkout lady, or your coworkers about what God has done in Christ. But wait, there’s more! In addition to expressing God’s overwhelming love for you, Christ’s death on the cross enables not only forgiveness,
but also life in the Kingdom of God. When God’s Kingdom comes on earth, His desires will be done on earth as in heaven. In that day, everything wrong with the world will be made right. Talk about adventure! Imagine a world in which you’re immortal and have unlimited time to explore, meet people, and have awesome experiences! That’s God’s endgame for humanity.

The Challenge for Enthusiasts

Spiritually healthy enthusiasts can mature beyond neglecting the past and present, over-busying themselves, and  impulsiveness. They can learn to be still and commune with God. They can enjoy His presence. They can also face their past with patience and deal with any issues that are causing problems today. They can let go of the drive to live each day to the absolute max, squeezing every drop of fun and adventure out of the day. Enthusiasts can do all these things, but only if they
are intentional—only if they are going to prioritize time with God each and every day.

Habakkuk 2:20 But the LORD is in his holy temple; let all the earth keep silence before him.

Enthusiasts bring excitement and joy to the world. They are indispensable in the body of Christ. Often, their charisma and magnetism enable them to reach people for God that the rest of us couldn’t. Their zeal for life, when properly limited within the boundaries God supplies, serves as a catalyst to get the demotivated, lazy, and content to try new things and experience life to a greater degree. They remind us that life isn’t all about routine and responsibilities, but also about connection and adventure. What wonderful people!

How nice it’d be if we could try everything
I’m serious, let’s make a list and just begin
“What about danger?” So what. “What about risk?”
Let’s climb the mountain before we cross that bridge!
…
Let me tell you another secret of the tradeIt feels like sinking when I’m standing in one place
So I look to the future and I book another flight
When everything feels heavy, I’ve learned to travel light
But I want to be here
Truly. Be. Here
To watch the ones that I love bloom
And I want to make room
To love them through and through and through
And through the slow and barren seasons too¹

1. Sleeping at Last, “Three,” Asteroid B-612, 17 on Atlas: II, November 23,
   2018, YouTube.[↩]