I’m a Christian…but I’m bored

As Christians we’re often told we should be the happiest of people, living the most exciting life, seeing answers to prayer and so on.

But I often meet Christians who are, well, bored. They’re not seeing these things happen. They don’t want to read their Bible every day because, well, it’s not that exciting. And when they pray it seems like they’re praying to a brick wall. And to top it all, non-Christians can seem to be having more fun!

So why are there so many bored again Christians? Here are 3 possible reasons:

1)      Our eyes are not open

Unless we’re looking for it, we can miss what God is doing.

The Bible calls us to be thankful. I have found that having an attitude of thanksgiving makes a huge difference in my day. Thanking God for his creation, my family, friends, the amazing croissant I’ve just eaten as I’m writing this, the job God has provided me with, the gifts God has given me.

And as I recognise God’s fingerprints all over my life my attitude changes.

It is far more fun to be thankful than it is to drift through my days ignoring God’s blessings in my life. Writing prayer requests down and then returning to see many of them answered is an amazing experience. Journaling helps some people track what God is doing in their lives.

Ask God to open your eyes to who He is and what He has done, and you won’t be bored.

2)      We’re not fighting for the right things

We were born to fight for something. Men in particular love fighting video games, across history they look for noble causes to join. Women fight to be recognised, to be beautiful, to be noticed and loved. Just look at Facebook.

Everyone fights for something. We all want our lives to count for something. But after a while these causes can let us down. Or they weren’t all that noble to begin with. Even the cause of promoting a good image of ourselves - we know deep inside its phony.

It’s far better to fight for something that lasts, to believe in Jesus as the most satisfying and amazing person better than anything else this world has to offer.

If you’re a Christian who finds more excitement fighting for other things, you will soon give up fighting to believe God. And your faith will stall. You’ll just coast.

You will stop growing, learning, getting to know Jesus better.

You will stop sharing your faith.

You might come to church on a Sunday, but you go through the motions.

Your faith will become an intellectual assent without life-changing power.

And you will become bored. You will look to be satisfied by other things. Relationships, video games, sports, family. All good things. But not the best.

Real faith is edgy, risky, dynamic, adrenalin fuelled. So fight for faith in Christ! Meet with others and fight together, and you will find that the fight of faith leads to true enjoyment of God’s grace, peace and joy.

3)      We’re used to being entertained

Our culture is all about instant entertainment. And we don’t want to hang around if something won’t entertain us. If this blog post is too long you switch off. If the video on YouTube doesn’t get to the point in 2 minutes you lose interest. Unless it engages your emotions in some way, whether by making you cry, making you angry or have a warm fuzzy feeling inside, it’s boring and not worth the effort.

Beware of exchanging true joy and satisfaction for superficial entertainment. Real joy and real satisfaction comes as we consider life giving truth in God’s word and as we spend time with Him in prayer. We can meet with Jesus on every page and He will speak to us if we will allow him.
And yet there will be times when we feel bored. Sin and the daily weight of things on our mind can so easily swamp us and we can feel numb when we read God’s word. We don’t feel that rush of joy every day. It can be hard work.

But fighting for joy means believing that feelings are not reliable.  And fighting for joy means asking God to help us believe that as Christians we are called to ‘life in all its fullness’.

John Piper has an acronym IOUS that I have found helpful as I come to God’s word:

I. Incline my hear to your testimonies. Psalm 119:36 (Since my heart is inclined to sleep and to work and to lots of things other than the Bible.)

O. Open my eyes to see wonders in your word. Psalm 119:18 (Since my heart is so often dull and blind to the wonders of the word.)

U. Unite my heart to fear your name. Psalm 86:11 (Since my heart is often divided and distracted in many directions)

S. Satisfy me with your steadfast love. Psalm 90:14 (Since my heart is so tempted to be satisfied in other things.)

So let me encourage you. Be honest. If you struggle with this, just tell God. You might even use this prayer:

“God, I’m bored. I’m sorry that I am not satisfied in you like you made me to be. Help me to be thankful. Help me be satisfied in you. Help me to see wonderful things in your Word. And help me to step out in faith, into the most exciting life I could possibly live. Amen”.

 

What do you think? Any other reasons? Any comments on the above?