Why You Feel Guilty for Resting — and How God Designed You for Play w/ Brianna Lambert (Created To Play Book Review) (S3E19)
Do you feel guilty for enjoying your hobbies? Like reading, baking, or camping somehow pulls you away from God instead of toward him?
In this episode, Dr. Tanya Paynter sits down with Brianna Lambert — author of Created to Play: How Taking Hobbies Seriously Grows Us Spiritually — to talk about why Christians so often compartmentalize their faith from the things they love, and why that divide was never meant to exist.
Brianna shares how she once felt deep guilt over the activities she enjoyed most, and how understanding God's character as the source of all beauty, goodness, and creativity changed everything. They explore how hobbies are not a distraction from worship — they are an opportunity for it.
In this episode, you’ll explore
• Why the secular/spiritual divide in our daily lives is a false one
• How play and hobbies connect us to our identity as image bearers of God
• The difference between rest that restores and escapism
• How shared hobbies build relationships — and open doors to the gospel
• Practical ways to start small and find God in your ordinary, everyday moments
Episode Timestamps
00:00 Why hobbies and shared activities build real relationships
03:26 Guilt, “secular vs spiritual,” and learning to receive good gifts from God
06:46 Rest vs escapism: how to discern the difference
07:50 A better definition of idleness: not doing what you were created to do
11:27 Redefining worship beyond singing and guilt about “not enjoying worship”
23:47 Play in community: family hobbies, church life, and everyday evangelism
31:30 The 10 “titles” of play + deep joys and temptations
35:13 What it means to take hobbies seriously (without turning them into performance)
41:36 Practical steps to start small and release productivity guilt
Resources Mentioned
- Created to Play: How Taking Hobbies Seriously Grows Us Spiritually — Brianna Lambert
- Stuart Brown (play and lifelong development)
- The “scholastics” framing of idleness/laziness (concept discussed)
About the Guest
Brianna Lambert is a writer and author from a rural community outside Indianapolis. Her articles and essays have appeared in Christianity Today, The Gospel Coalition, Common Good, and Mere Orthodoxy. She serves on staff at Gospel Centered Discipleship and in the women’s ministry at her local church. She is the author of Created to Play: How Taking Hobbies Seriously Grows Us Spiritually.
Connect with Brianna Lambert:
- Website: https://briannalambert.com
- Substack: https://briannalambert.substack.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/briannalambertauthor
- Book availability mentioned: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart (online)
About the Host
Dr. Tanya Paynter is the host of The Christian Clinician, a podcast exploring faith, physiology, and the nervous system—how biblical practices shape stress response, emotional resilience, and long-term physical health. She is a licensed naturopathic physician.
Where to Find Dr. Tanya Paynter
Learn more at www.psalmmedical.com
Visit the podcast webpage at https://www.psalmmedical.com/cc-podcast
Follow The Christian Clinician on Social Media
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thechristianclinician
