Defeating Boredom
(topical)
1. I really do not want to bore you with today’s sermon because my theme is boredom!
2. America is suffering from a plague of boredom. And this boredom is wasting lives, destroying families, and makes us a nation of depressed people who escape life and boredom by watching DVD after DVD.
3. Evangelical Christianity is suffering from a plague of boredom. People are bored, cannot pay attention or concentrate for long, and are passing time in front of TV or computer screens, existing but not really living.
4. It wasn’t always this way. Decades ago, most Americans belonged to clubs, had people over for dinner, read, and developed a variety of hobbies and interests. Then came the TV, and the more technology we add, the worse it gets.
5. Most people have no strategy to reduce boredom from life. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. One day I was waiting in the doctor’s office playing solitaire….if I had decks of cards to sell, I would have made a fortune. I came prepared. I like time to be alone, time to think, time to read. But I do not like to be bored.
Main Idea: Our approach toward life is the greatest factor in determining whether we find life as a Christian boring or filled with wonder and interest.
I. The Wrong Approach to An Interesting Life is the Path of Least RESISTANCE (Proverbs 14:12)
A. Negative approaches have CONSEQUENCES
Proverbs 14:12, "There is a way which seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death."
Matthew 25:30, "Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Being bored invites trouble; bored kids in school, bored spouses, bored employees…
Bored people are set up to fall into sinful ways to alleviate the boredom…
B. Wrong ways to deal with BOREDOM
1. only passive entertainment (watching)
2. materialism (buying)
3. eating, alcohol, drugs, and addictions
4. sin becomes more enticing
C. Some CAUSES of boredom
1. under stimulation (we need an attainable challenge)
2. over stimulation (nothing except the extravagant then interests us)
3. repetition (we need variety, but some people fear change or variety)
4. disconnection (they don’t relate to what is going on; not part of team)
[1,3, & 4 from Richard Winter from "Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment"]
5. depression (unmotivated, frustrated)
6. attention deficit (circular)
7. confinement
D. Bored people can become BORING people
Generally people are bored because they have limited interests, and people with few interests are generally uninteresting to others except for those who have overlapping interests.
: Our approach toward life is the greatest factor in determining whether we find life as a Christian boring or filled with wonder and interest.
II. The Right Approach to Life Makes Life INTERESTING (Matthew 6:33)
A. Focus on GOOD things under the Lordship of Christ (Philippians 4:8)
Matthew 6:33, "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
Philippians 4:8, "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
B. Clinging to spiritual WONDERS
1. God’s wonderful Name (Isaiah 9:6, Judges 13:18, Isaiah 28:29)
2. His wonderful Word (Psalm 119:18)
3. God’s wonderful light (I Peter 2:9)
4. Faith: branching out and taking some risk
5. Bite sized, not overwhelming, challenges
C. Enjoying the wonders of CREATION (Psalm 145:5)
• When is the last time you took a walk in the woods? Along a creek?
• Creation museum, DVD on space
D. The RICHNESS that comes from relationships (Hebrews 1:9)
• Even Jesus is said to be exalted about his companions. So are you trying to tell me that Jesus needed companions but that you are somehow above that?
• Interesting article about the brain and being social this week…
o mig’ da la
By Amanda Gardner
HealthDay Reporter – Mon Dec 27, 5:03 pm ET
MONDAY, Dec. 27 (HealthDay News) -- The size of your amygdala, an almond-shaped portion of the brain involved in emotions, may be as strong a marker for having rich and varied social relationships as how many "friends" you have on Facebook, researchers say.
Scientists report in the Dec. 26 online edition of Nature Neuroscience that people with larger and more complex social networks also have larger amygdalas.
...For this latest study, scientists at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital had 58 healthy adults aged 19 to 83 years answer questions about the number of people they maintained regular contact with and about the number of social groups they belonged to -- considered an indication of the complexity of each person’s social network.
The volume of the amygdala was measured via MRI.
As it turned out, the more extensive and more complex a person’s social network was, the larger the amygdala. This was true regardless of the age or gender of the participant.
On the other hand, there was no link between number of social contacts and the size of other parts of the brain.
• So are people more social because they have a large amygdala, or the other way around? Brain expert Richard Restak has documented that the brain changes shape based upon our behavior.
• My view, some of both. Some people are born social, but all of us can learn to become more social, and thus enrich our lives.
E. Making a POINT of enjoying life (I Timothy 6:17b)
F. What CHANGES do you need to make?
1. Follow your instincts, or makes yourself do social things?
2. Probe more deeply into the things of God or be bored by rehash after rehash.
3. Volunteer, participate, be a team player.
4. Watch DVD after DVD, or develop interests?
• Collecting
• Games
• Outdoor recreation
• Performing arts
• Creative hobbies
i. woodworking, photography, moviemaking, jewelry making, playing a musical instrument, software projects... home music or video production, making bracelets friendship bracelets, artistic projects (such as drawing, painting, etc.), creating models out of card or paper called papercraft.
• Scale modeling/dioramas
• Cooking
• Gardening
• Fishkeeping
• Reading
[source: Wikipedia]
Conclusion
If you are determined to stay in a rut, don’t complain that you are bored.
Boredom can by a tyrant to make your life lackluster, or it can be a challenge to meet head on. I suggest the latter.
Some material borrowed from Richard Winter, "Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment," Inter-Varsity Press, 2002. A good read!
