Backpacking with our kids years ago.
I’m a big fan of excitement. I love relationships. I love adventure. And I love travel.
So when I became a stay-at-home mom 26 years ago and eventually a homeschool mom, I wasn’t really well-suited to the job.
I loved my kids and we had many fun adventures together when the weather was nice.
But I live in the north, so there are weeks and weeks every winter where the weather isn’t conducive to being outside having fun. Not to mention the little fact that we had to do school each day.
What I’m trying to say is that I was spoiled. And because I grew up in a culture that told me every day that I deserved the “good life,” I had picked up some lies that added to my discontent.
Lies That Make Us Bored
Instead of believing that I should lay my life down out of love for the brethren (in this case, my kids), I was believing that I deserved the “good life.”
Instead of believing that life is about loving God and others, I was believing that life was about having fun.
And instead of relying on God when life wasn’t fun, in those days I relied on quick bursts of excitement from the refrigerator. Which of course wasn’t enough to keep me happy.
What I’m learning as I go through life is that each stage of life has its challenges. Those challenges can either draw us closer to God or further away from God. Make us more like Him or less like Him. And teach us to love others better or teach us to become even more self-absorbed than we already are.
That’s why it’s so important to keep bringing our thoughts captive to the truth on a daily basis. If you struggle with boredom, here are some questions and Bible verses you can use to help you see life from a biblical perspective.
Note: These questions and Bible verses can also be found in The Renewing of the Mind Project, available February 8, 2015.
When Life is Boring
- If real life were like a romantic comedy or an action thriller, what % of your life would be exciting?
- What % of the average person’s life is exciting?
- Think of all the believers in the Bible. What % of their lives was fun and exciting?
- Do you have unrealistic expectations for life? Explain.
- If your main goal in life were to have fun, what would you do with your time right now?
- What do you think God wants you do with your time right now?
- Why do you think He wants you to do that?
- Are you willing to be bored for God and others if that’s what you need to do to love them well?
- Is there anything you need to accept about life?
- What can you thank God for in this situation?
Bible Verses
2 Corinthians 12:9a And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”
Ephesians 5:15-16 Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
Philippians 1:21 For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.
Philippians 4:11 Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.
Philippians 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 6:7-8 For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that.
1 John 2:15-16 Do not love the world not the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.
1 John 3:16 We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
P.S. I forgot I had changed these questions before I made my pin – so there are actually 10 questions. :) Can you think of any other questions or Bible verses to add?
You’ve really hit on an issue that the church is struggling with now. We want to fulfill the flesh when scripture tells us to die to it. Peace and joy are from within. I’m not sure what the balance is, but I’m sure most of us are out of it… myself included. The most peace and joy for me come from the times of discipline.
The interesting thing is that when I die to the flesh, that’s when I’m most content–even though you wouldn’t think it would be that way. I agree. It’s definitely a struggle in the church today. It’s hard to break free from those lies.
Such an important topic, Barb. I think boredom is something that plagues so many, but they don’t even know it’s happening. I struggle with it pretty regularly (wrote several posts on it a while back). Kind of struggling with it presently too. But resetting your thinking with Scripture and with an assessment like the questions you provide can make a big difference, especially if we do it before the boredom grows into something bigger and much harder to overcome (depression, for example). In our instant-gratification culture, it’s so easy to cover up this boredom; there are SO many choices for doing so. But covering it up is the worse thing you can do. Instead, as you suggest, let’s tackle it head on by renewing the mind.
That’s a good point, Kari. Emotions that aren’t dealt with often turn into depression. When we cover it up, the problem just gets worse. I think we go the cover-up route just because that’s the easiest thing to do that gives us the quickest escape. Sometimes I’ll go all day caught up in my emotions, then go to God at the end of the day for readjustment and think, “Why didn’t I do that earlier? I could have saved myself so much grief.”
Wow, what timing! I needed this and my husband and I were discussing a child who always needs fun fixes. :-) I plan to print these questions, too. Thanks so much, Barb. You have a gift.
LOL, I am that fun child, Melanie, and I wrote these for myself. Hope they help. :)
Enjoyed the post. I will work through the questions and study the scriptures.
Thanks, Bernard.
This is so timely and I appreciate that you wrote it from a personal perspective. We often point to children whining, “I’m bored” but I think we all do it at time. Rev and I have noticed that we are becoming more contented. I heard the other day that maturity makes us appreciate little things . . . or maybe it’s age. ;-) I also think it’s a challenge for churches as they plan worship services. People are looking for fun and exciting. I wonder how we’d answer if we as church leaders answered your questions for our congregations.
Hmm, that would be interesting to ask as a church. I love that you and Rev are becoming more contented as you grow older. I feel like that’s happening to me as well – although some days I take a nose dive. I hate those days! Life is so much better when I’m thankful.
This part of Eph really hits home for me, “making the most of your time”
My son is about to turn 3…where did the time go!
Our life is but a breathe, we must make the most of each moment and not let them slip away.
We only get one life. I don’t want to look back and think of how much I could have done or what I should have done. I want to just “do it”. I want to live the life God designed for me. And I’m starting to realize just how much that life demands that I die to myself. Yet, I find so much more satisfaction in living for God than I ever do living for myself.
Yet I keep messing up.
So thankful for Grace!
Ah, yes, thankful for grace and thankful that He can bring good out of our mess-ups! Thanks for highlighting Ephesians 3. I should write that one on a few cards and post it around my house!
Good idea!
I really identify with you Barb. I have the least likely personality to work from home too. I love moving and shaking things “out there in the world”, it’s what I’ve done my whole adult life. The last few five years have taught me that God can and will do the impossible :) He can completely change someone/help them do what is humanly impossible. :) These are great questions and verses to think on. And enjoyed reading your story!
Thanks for the encouragement, Ngina – isn’t that great that God can completely change us? And make us content and even happy doing things we didn’t think we’d be able to be happy doing? He has done it so many times in the past, but I’m still delighted and somewhat surprised each time I see Him doing it again. :)
When I was growing up we learned very quickly never to say “I’m bored? around my mother because as soon as we did she would say “Oh, that’s great because I’ve got a ton of work you can do for me that will keep you from being so bored!”. I think that often we are bored because we are too lazy to start in on tasks we know we need to get done.
So the question I would add is, “What work can I get started on right now?”
My mom used to use that same strategy. We learned to never say we were bored because we didn’t want any extra jobs! I wonder if this is another one of those situations where we’re happier if we just lay down our lives and do the job that is before us rather than sitting back and saying, “I don’t want to do that – I want to do something fun!” I’m thinking it is. Thanks for adding to the discussion, Caleb.
I think boredom comes from, like you say, a sense of entitlement concerning excitement and pleasure. But I think that’s a tricky thing because we’ll often recalibrate. If our days are super-exciting, we’ll start to develop a high standard. Likewise, if our days are pretty humdrum, we may find excitement in little, insignificant things.
I definitely see the logic in that, Loren. Although I think I often still cling to unrealistic expectations for excitement even when I should really know that my normal days are pretty humdrum. I need to get it into my head that my regular life isn’t all that exciting – or even better, as a friend of mine suggested, start seeing excitement from God’s perspective – i.e. how would He define excitement? If I looked at it from that perspective, I have a pretty exciting life. :)
Great questions and verses! I wish I was “bored” more:) A family (wife and 2 year old) working full time, and writing keep me busy.
Yes, I bet you don’t have much opportunity to be bored!
That second passage of Philippians you cited is one of my favorites :)
Former adrenaline junkie here (kinda goes with the territory of being an addict in general, but I was *way* out of control) who discovered that a calmer, saner approach to life works far better than the myriad alternatives I tried. My life today might bore others, but my life back then might have killed them – I’m still standing, and it is solely due to God. Oh, and the neat part of that? Some of the people who were witnesses to my being out of control are themselves clean, calm followers of Christ – they can attest to what I say.
Now, where’s the next roller coaster? :D
Hi Rick, I just saw your comment here – sorry I missed it! You have a good example of excitement not always being a good thing. :) I’m glad your life is more boring now!
Thank you so much for that. I could never express my gratitude right now. I am a high school student and 5 minutes before, I really didn’t feel like studying. I wasted hours longing for something other than the ordinary, but the questions really helped me get back on track and so did the bible verses. Thank you very much again..:)
Hi Hanna, I still remember all those boring study sessions from years ago. I was a terrible procrastinator. I’m so glad the boring questions helped! Thanks for writing to let me know!
Thanks so much for this! I’m a homeschooling mom in the middle of a very cold winter, and I found myself Googling “Bible verses about boredom.” Your post was quite helpful — lots of tough questions that smacked me in the face, in a good way. Thanks!
That’s so funny, Holly. I bet you were surprised to find a post by another homeschool mom. :) lol, you know I can relate! Winter is hard as a homeschool mom in the north! Hope you get a winter thaw or some warm weather soon!
Thank you for this. God bless you.
You’re welcome! Glad it helped!
Very good study. I did this search on “Bible on boredom” because my 5-yr old daughter often nags after me or my husband that she is bored, she wants our constant attention and playing with her, which obviously we cannot afford. Since I started to train her doing mind-maps on almost everything, it came to me that I could help her mind-mapping about “I’m bored, what shall I do?”. To both of our surprises, she thought of many things she could do instead of nagging after mom or dad, which would not have good results. Well, since the heart of the wisdom thinking is to think about what God would say on an issue, so I decided I’m going to lead her do a mini Bible search on boredom. :) Then I stumbled upon your article, very enjoyable reading, though questions may be too hard for a 5-yr old, but very good for myself. :)
– A Christian mom residing in Chengdu, Sichuan, China
Wow, that’s a great idea to teach her mind-map boredom at 5 years old! And so fun that you found my blog post when you were searching for the Bible on boredom! Glad the questions were helpful. :) Plus I think it’s so great that you’re teaching your daughter good life coping skills at such a young age! Thanks for visiting and commenting, Cissy!
This website really is a blessing. I’m in the middle of a 21 consecration Danial fast and this is intercession week. I find myself bored at work but I should be focused on the purpose of this fast not about what I want. We seriously do try to find things other than read the Word of God, we do look to food for fun, and we do want a good life. But at the same time we are in Christ and have a mission to complete. The flesh doesn’t want anything to do with the Spirit so we must stay kingdom minded, renewed in our minds the fresh Word of God. Amen and the Scriptures chosen for the topic of Boredom, were such a blessing because it is the Truth. Thank you for this website for it has blessed me in Jesus name.
I’m so glad the Scriptures for helpful and that the website has also been helpful, Austin. I’ve done a Daniel fast a couple of different times and was surprised by how the fast affected me spiritually as well as physically. But I know how hard it is to do! Praying God will bless you during this time!