LEGO’s founder on how godly play—not just productivity—pleases God

The Word Before Work

Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm, to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert (Job 38:25-26)

Most people didn’t view the Great Depression as the best time to launch a toy company. But that’s exactly when LEGO, the most successful toy brand of all time, was born.

The company’s founder, a devout Christian aptly named Ole Kirk Christiansen, had spent years building a traditional carpentry business. But by the early 1930s, business was slumping while his debts were soaring. So he pivoted to making toys like yo-yos, toy cars, and eventually LEGO bricks.

And everyone told him he was out of his mind.

“I think you’re much too good for that, Christiansen,” one friend said. “Why don’t you find something more useful to do!” The world was in crisis after all. People needed food, not toys.

But Christiansen disagreed. In his own playful life and the life of the business he created to help others play well, Christiansen demonstrated a deep understanding of this truth: We mere Christians can glorify God by embracing fun, beauty, play, and “useless” work because our heavenly Father does the same.

That’s what we see in today’s passage. God says that he sends “torrents of rain...to water a land where no one lives.” Why would God make it rain in an uninhabited desert? Apparently just for the fun of it!

Commenting on this verse, theologian Dr. R. Paul Stevens says that God’s playful nature should produce in his people a “freedom from the tyranny of utility.” In other words, godly play—not just productivity—pleases God.

I’ll be the first to admit that I am glacially slow to learning this. But by God’s grace I am coming to see that play is productive for my soul and my goals. As Dr. Stuart Brown says, “In the long run, work does not work without play.”

If you, like me, are not used to playing, let me encourage you to adopt this practice I recently found very helpful: Take stock of your play history. Ask yourself what you did as a kid or as an adult that felt like play.

Based on my study of the work of Dr. Brown and others, I define play as any activity that has these 5 characteristics:

1. I would say I “get” to do it rather than “have” to do it
2. I lose track of time while I’m doing it
3. I can’t wait to do it again
4. I can’t stop talking about it with others
5. I have no deadline to complete the activity

Once you’ve made a list of things that have historically felt like play, schedule 30-90 minutes this week to engage in one of those activities knowing that you, like LEGO’s founder, can glorify God as you do!