Why do many people play the same golf game---day after day, week after week, month after month, and even year after year---without improving?
Why do many people play a musical instrument---over and over again---without ever improving?
Why do many people work their jobs the same way, every day, and do that same work for years without ever improving?
Why do kids desire to start a band, only to sound like the Beatles, sound like the Beach Boys, or sound like Elvis?
Why are people content at being mediocre, at being average, or at being middle-of-the-road, and not being any different than others who are being the same way?
Have people found contentment in boredom?
Are people afraid to be different?
Are people afraid to be better than others?
Are people afraid to be better than themselves?
Are people afraid of success?
Or, do people not believe that they can be better?
Do people prefer to observe rather than to participate?
Do people prefer to follow rather than to lead?
Do people prefer to walk the trails of others than to make new ones?
The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Elvis were successful because they were different---not because they were boring!
Professional athletes are successful because they are different---not because they are boring!
Why are we afraid to lift our voices and speak our minds?
Is all God created us to do is to find contentment in boredom? To sit and watch others succeed while we keep playing the same songs on the jukebox? To sit and watch as others blaze new trails while we stay at home mending fences?
When people find contentment in boredom, they wait for things to happen, rather than make things happen.
When people find contentment in boredom, the devil will be sure to find them---giving them something to think about, something that is attractive and alluring, and drawing them into his spider's web to capture their minds, their attention---and to lead them down a new trail that will eventually destroy their lives and their souls.
When families find contentment in boredom, the children will pursue adventures outside of the family just to get away from all the boredom at home.
When married couples find contentment in boredom, one will pursue a person of interest outside the marriage that will rekindle some excitement in their lives rather than to spend their days and nights in boredom.
Even churches and religious institutions can become places of contentment in boredom. The people pray the same prayers, sing the same songs, hear the same sermons, sit in the same places, wear the same clothes, and treat others the same way they have treated others for weeks, months, years, and even for decades. There is never nothing new, nothing different, and nothing exciting. It is as if even their souls have gone to sleep.
Or, could it be that their souls have never been awakened? Therefore, is taking a nap at church any different than taking a nap at home? After all, what are they missing when they are not sleeping?
With contentment in boredom, are people actually sleep-walking through life?
So, how's your golf game?
About the same.
How was church today?
About the same.
How was your week at work?
About the same.
How are you doing with playing the piano?
About the same.
Is about the same all there is to life in the pursuit of happiness?
Is about the same all there is to life in the pursuit of excellence?
If all you can do is play boring golf, why not give it up and pursue another challenge?
If playing piano is boring, why not give it up and pursue another instrument?
If watching television is nothing but boring, why not give it up and pursue another interest?
When we find contentment in boredom, we have found comfort in laziness---at which time the pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of excellence will be no more than the sound of a stone splashing on top of the water.
Jesus said,
I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10: 10)
There was nothing boring about the life of Christ. Everything he did and everything he said was different, refreshing, and exciting. His fame went before him in Israel and people gathered to see what Jesus would do and to hear the words that he would speak. He was not the same as other men, and many people followed Him and called him Lord because Jesus was giving them eternal life.
As the people accepted Christ, they awakened from sleeping, from taking naps, and they began to walk with newness in their lives and a new song in their hearts. Never again did they find contentment in boredom.
Over the past two thousand years, millions of people have been awakened from sleeping because of Christ. Their lives have been different, refreshing, and exciting. We have been given a newness in life that this world cannot give us, and we have a new song in our hearts that this world does not know.
With Christ, about the same is never the same.
Why do many people play a musical instrument---over and over again---without ever improving?
Why do many people work their jobs the same way, every day, and do that same work for years without ever improving?
Why do kids desire to start a band, only to sound like the Beatles, sound like the Beach Boys, or sound like Elvis?
Why are people content at being mediocre, at being average, or at being middle-of-the-road, and not being any different than others who are being the same way?
Have people found contentment in boredom?
Are people afraid to be different?
Are people afraid to be better than others?
Are people afraid to be better than themselves?
Are people afraid of success?
Or, do people not believe that they can be better?
Do people prefer to observe rather than to participate?
Do people prefer to follow rather than to lead?
Do people prefer to walk the trails of others than to make new ones?
The Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Elvis were successful because they were different---not because they were boring!
Professional athletes are successful because they are different---not because they are boring!
Why are we afraid to lift our voices and speak our minds?
Is all God created us to do is to find contentment in boredom? To sit and watch others succeed while we keep playing the same songs on the jukebox? To sit and watch as others blaze new trails while we stay at home mending fences?
When people find contentment in boredom, they wait for things to happen, rather than make things happen.
When people find contentment in boredom, the devil will be sure to find them---giving them something to think about, something that is attractive and alluring, and drawing them into his spider's web to capture their minds, their attention---and to lead them down a new trail that will eventually destroy their lives and their souls.
When families find contentment in boredom, the children will pursue adventures outside of the family just to get away from all the boredom at home.
When married couples find contentment in boredom, one will pursue a person of interest outside the marriage that will rekindle some excitement in their lives rather than to spend their days and nights in boredom.
Even churches and religious institutions can become places of contentment in boredom. The people pray the same prayers, sing the same songs, hear the same sermons, sit in the same places, wear the same clothes, and treat others the same way they have treated others for weeks, months, years, and even for decades. There is never nothing new, nothing different, and nothing exciting. It is as if even their souls have gone to sleep.
Or, could it be that their souls have never been awakened? Therefore, is taking a nap at church any different than taking a nap at home? After all, what are they missing when they are not sleeping?
With contentment in boredom, are people actually sleep-walking through life?
So, how's your golf game?
About the same.
How was church today?
About the same.
How was your week at work?
About the same.
How are you doing with playing the piano?
About the same.
Is about the same all there is to life in the pursuit of happiness?
Is about the same all there is to life in the pursuit of excellence?
If all you can do is play boring golf, why not give it up and pursue another challenge?
If playing piano is boring, why not give it up and pursue another instrument?
If watching television is nothing but boring, why not give it up and pursue another interest?
When we find contentment in boredom, we have found comfort in laziness---at which time the pursuit of happiness and the pursuit of excellence will be no more than the sound of a stone splashing on top of the water.
Jesus said,
I am come that they might have life,
and that they might have it more abundantly. (John 10: 10)
There was nothing boring about the life of Christ. Everything he did and everything he said was different, refreshing, and exciting. His fame went before him in Israel and people gathered to see what Jesus would do and to hear the words that he would speak. He was not the same as other men, and many people followed Him and called him Lord because Jesus was giving them eternal life.
As the people accepted Christ, they awakened from sleeping, from taking naps, and they began to walk with newness in their lives and a new song in their hearts. Never again did they find contentment in boredom.
Over the past two thousand years, millions of people have been awakened from sleeping because of Christ. Their lives have been different, refreshing, and exciting. We have been given a newness in life that this world cannot give us, and we have a new song in our hearts that this world does not know.
With Christ, about the same is never the same.
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