Do you remember the excitement of being a new Christian? The thrill of learning new things, realizing truths about Jesus you’ve never known, and seeing details you’ve never seen before?
It’s incredibly compelling, and motives believers to continue the journey of spiritual growth onwards. But what happens when this spiritual honeymoon phase ends? What happens when the normalcy of life comes calling once again and what was once new and enthralling becomes rote and routine?
In short, what happens when we get plain bored?
Over the years, there have been times where the spark of reading scripture just wasn’t there, things felt dry and dead, and I didn’t see any growth, or amazing transformation. In those times, the temptation to simply walk away was high. How does someone combat Christian boredom?
Well, let’s explore this together.
Day-to-Day Doldrums
Right away, let’s make clear that it’s normal to have ebbs and flows in life. No-one has perfect emotions all of the time, and it’s not a sign of false or fraudulent salvation if you had in the past or are currently going through a low time.
There are times when we are fatigued, or even distracted; so what do we do about this? While it’s not possible to completely eliminate such things, we can analyze the cause and see what solutions the scriptures offer.
Being bored is not a sin, although some things that develop from boredom, such as laziness or depression can become sinful— and the scriptures warn about those in Proverbs 13:14, 19:15, and others.
God wants us to be content, and enjoy life, as mentioned in Ecclesiastes 2:24-26, Proverbs 13:4, Ecclesiastes 3:11-13, among others.
It’s important for us to know these simple facts, because if we think that God doesn’t care, it can lead to a sense of futility, or even resentment— or a “God is ignoring me” kind of mentality
When these kinds of thoughts come up, that’s when we should start taking notice and initiating corrective action
The Emotion Thought Connection
The interesting thing about emotions is where they come from. Have you ever considered it? In the most fundamental way, emotions simply allow us to feel what we are thinking. If you start thinking negative thoughts, you will feel bad. When you think positive and uplifting thoughts, you will feel good.
But it’s not just a matter of combatting thought for thought, because your consciousness knows whether you truly believe something or not. If you try to simply counter bad thoughts with good, but you still believe the bad, your emotions will still gravitate toward the bad.
So there needs to be something underpinning and supporting the good thoughts. And this is where a solid foundation in Jesus Christ is crucial.
Your Reason for Good Thoughts
The scriptures say a number of things regarding why we can have reason for good thoughts. 1st Peter 3:15-16 says:
“ 15But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear
16 Having a good conscience; that, whereas they speak evil of you, as of evildoers, they may be ashamed that falsely accuse your good conversation in Christ.”
One of the main keys here is right at the start of verse 15, sanctify the Lord God in your heart.
To sanctify something or someone is to set them apart for their intended purposes— we, are sanctified, set apart for our intended purpose by Jesus, through the power of the Holy Spirit, but here we are told to sanctify, set apart the Lord God, where? In our heart.
If you recall the past studies we’ve done on our heart, you will know that “the heart” as commonly used in scripture is not referring to the physical muscle in our bodies, but it’s referring to your mind, emotions, and will. It is here that we are to set apart the Lord God… and in so doing, when we give Him the proper place of reverence, it is then that we can be ready to always give an answer whenever we are questioned about the hope (confident expectation of good) that is within us.
Hebrews 4:15-16 tells us more by saying:
“ 15 For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”
Friend, the point is this… Jesus knows, and sees, and is understands our infirmities— but more than that he is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
And we can not only ask… but come to Jesus boldly with confidence; and notice that it’s not a fruitless endeavor — when we come to Jesus, we obtain mercy and find grace to help… not when it’s too late, but right then, in the time of need!
Join Me Next Time…
So I wanted to address these issues first, because they are so prevalent in the lives of so many Christians.
In the next segment we will address more of the common reasons behind Christian boredom, and the dullness that sometimes creeps in, even when we have the best of intentions. Until then, thanks for thriving with me today, and I look forward to thriving with you again.
Be blessed.
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