A Cure for Spiritual Boredom

I get bored easily. Before I know it, I am stuck in a rut.  Usually, it is in a cooking rut.  I put together the same ingredients, to create the same dish for the same people – day, after day, after day. I am a better-than-average cook, but new recipes take more time and extra effort than the same old monotonous meal. If I am not careful, I lose my love for cooking.

Recently, I purchased an app that has helped me get out of my most recent cooking rut.  I pick recipes from a long list of options, the app puts together my grocery list and after a few more clicks, I am pulling up to the pick-up line where someone else loads my groceries into the car.

It’s genius. I am happy. My family is happier. Good-bye cooking rut, at least for a while.

Sometimes, it feels like every aspect of my life is in a rut. I am unsatisfied and find myself coming undone by the mundane. Something inside of me wants more than ordinary.

I can’t pinpoint the cause, but it’s there. A feeling of stuck.

After I’ve tried and failed many times to come unstuck, I’ve discovered it’s most often a spiritual rut that has me wondering if there is more. But more of what? More happiness. More excitement. More challenges. More choices. More things.  More… everything.

What I need is more Jesus.

Most of us have experienced dissatisfaction in our spiritual walk. If we’re not careful, we’ll try all the latest Christian fads, trends and movements to move us from stuck to spiritual and still be unsatisfied.

There is nothing wrong with using tools to help teach, but don’t neglect the Teacher.

There is something about new technology, Pinterest-like pages in a Bible and crowded conferences that can create a new excitement in our relationship with Jesus, or at least a new excitement in something. We need to ask ourselves when working to climb out of that spiritual rut, “Am I focused on the method or the Messiah?”

We’ve all seen trends come and go, but Jesus remains the same. You won’t get un-bored in your spiritual walk by anything else than a better relationship with Him.

So, where do you start getting unstuck? If you are feeling bored with Christ, there is something wrong. You need to have a heart-to-heart with Him.

Every time I have a feeling of stuck, I find that God is asking me to either grow, or get up and do something. Sometimes, an exciting new adventure is awaiting, but usually the adventure is simply in my day-to-day life with Christ.

Grow.

“But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever!” 2 Peter 3:18

In this verse, to grow in the grace and knowledge has two possible meanings. Gnōsis, which translates grow in the knowledge of Christ, or epignōsis, a personal encounter with Christ.

Get to know God better by reading the scriptures and spending time with him. It seems so easy. Sit down, open your Bible, read and pray. But we live in a world of distractions that keep us from spending quality time with God.

Quality time is focused time. It is personal and intimate. He is the great Teacher and if we are to learn about him, we need to be a good student. Study God’s word with the expectation it will change your life and stop long enough to listen for the Spirit to speak to your heart. His Word will teach you and it will change you.

Ask yourself and God, “Why don’t I spend more time in the Word and in prayer?”  Make an effort to change what’s in your way. Remember, getting out of a spiritual rut is a battle. Don’t get discouraged. It is well worth the fight.

As you grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ, your eyes will be opened to new and exciting truths that make for a new and exciting life.

Get up and do something.

“Never be lazy but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.”  Romans 12:11

Most of us work hard, but do we work hard at serving the Lord, enthusiastically? If you are in a spiritual rut, it could be that climbing out means you need to get up and do something… for somebody else.

If you are like me, you go to work, then come home with barely enough mental and physical energy to care for family and take on a long list of to-dos. Just the thought of doing one more thing makes you tired.

I understand. You are doing something! But does God want more?

Only God can answer that question for you. You will never know unless you ask. Chances are, the more you grow, the more he will ask you to go.

You will get tired. You will be uncertain. But you won’t be in a spiritual rut.

Every Thursday night I am tired. It is near the end of the week. Friday Eve I call it. Just one more day of work and finally some rest. There is something inside of me that would love to sack out on the sofa and binge watch episodes of an action-packed drama series on Thursday nights. But God has asked me to get up and do something else – serve him.

I can’t tell you that God gives me this burst of energy as I head out the door. However, I can tell you that I’ve never regretted going and doing what God has asked me to do.  You won’t either.

The next time you are bored with God, will you go to his Word and spend time with him, or will you fill your heart with a temporary fix? Will you be willing to get up and do something, or will you find a million and one reasons you can’t?

I’ve had to ask myself these same questions, sometimes over and over again. But God always has an answer. He has an answer for you too.