THE BORED AGAIN CHRISTIAN

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

“Hey Dave.”

 

“Hi Jim. How’s it going?”

 

“Pretty good I guess.”

 

“Just pretty good?”

 

“Well I’m kinda down in the dumps.”

 

“What for? Everything okay?”

 

“Well yes. I guess. It’s just I’m concerned about my spiritual life.”

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Well I just feel so apathetic about stuff? Like I don’t care about my Christian life or anything.”

 

“When did this start?”

 

“Oh its been going on for some time now. It’s weird. About a year ago, I was really growing spiritually. Then about a month ago I realized that I was just really bored with my spiritual life.”

 

“Bored huh?”

 

“Yeah, just down-right, deadly bored. I don’t want to go to church anymore. I can’t get excited about reading my Bible and I can’t tell you when the last time I prayed.”

 

“What’s wrong with me? Has God given up on me or what?”

 

“I doubt very much if God has anything to do with your boredom. Usually when I feel like that…”

 

“You feel like that sometimes?”

 

“Yes at times I sense a cloud of boredom hovering over my head. My motivation goes down about spiritual things and I just seem to have lost interest in my faith.”

 

“That’s good to hear.”

 

“What?”

 

“Well I mean it’s good to hear someone else has the same problem I have.”

 

“I see. Well it’s not a good place to be. You feel like you’re missing out on something and letting God down.”

 

“Yeah, I know. What do you do to get out of that rut?”

 

“Well, I usually look back over the last few weeks or month and discover that I’ve grown distant from God.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well let’s put it this way. Your faith is not a religion, it’s a relationship with God. Like any relationship it requires work and time.”

 

“I thought we were under grace not works?”

 

“We are, but if we don’t spend time with our Heavenly Father our relationship will suffer.”

 

“You mean It’s like with my marriage to my wife Sue. I’ve noticed if we let our work and personal interests dominate our lives our marriage suffers. We tend to get mad at each other much easier and our little personal quirks start to bother us more.”

 

“Yes, that’s it exactly. Any relationship requires time and effort. We have been saved by grace not works, but if we don’t set aside time for God each day we tend to float away from Him and our relationship with Him is weakened.”

 

“So God isn’t the one at fault?”

 

“Absolutely not. Like in your marriage with Sue, if you don’t set aside time to be with her, to enjoy her company and build intimacy, your marriage will begin to show signs of wear and tear.”

 

“I see. So I need to spend more time going to church, Bible studies and stuff?”

 

“Well those things are good, but you can go to church, be in all sorts of Bible studies and even serve in ministries and still not build your relationship with God.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. Sometimes we get so involved in doing things outwardly that appear spiritual that we don’t spend intimate time with God and grow in our relationship with Him.”

 

“I see. It’s like if Sue and I went to the movies, took trips together but never really sat down and talked we could be thinking we were building our marriage when really we would just be putting in time.”

 

“Yes, exactly. God wants you to share everything with Him. He knows your most intimate thoughts, but He wants you to talk to Him. He wrote the Bible, but He wants you to read the Bible and share your thoughts with Him about what you read. He wants to hear about your problems as well as your achievements. He knows all about what goes on in your life, but He wants you to share your life with Him. In that process you grow closer to Him. The neat thing is He is always nearby you waiting for you to speak to Him. He may seem distant, but that is from your perspective. It’s not reality.”

 

“I guess I’ve been neglecting my relationship with Him. I was very busy in church things but drifting away from the Lord.”

 

“There’s nothing wrong with church activities Jim, but they can’t take the place of a relationship with our Heavenly Father. He loves you more than you can imagine and wants to be your Lord and Master as well as your Friend.”

 

“Thanks Dave. I’m glad I ran into you.”

 

“Will you pray with me?

 

“Sure thing, Jim.”

Revelation 3:20

“Look! Here I stand at the door and knock. If you hear me calling and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal as friends.”