The Theology of Boredom | Ears to Hear #21

In boredom lies ample opportunity for the Spirit of God to get through to you. Quench not the Spirit!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Welcome, welcome. What is up? What is the theology of boredom? You might ask, that's a great question. What it is, is it's the study through religion, the importance of what it means to be bored. I think being bored is crucial and something I'm learning to do and enjoy more and more. The point I want to hit on is that the most important part of your day is not your morning prayer. It's not your Bible study. But wait, Reed, you've said that the two most important habits to get you to heaven are reading and praying your scriptures. That's true. The most important habits are doing those every day. That unbroken chain of discipline and consistency is what turns on the spiritual tap of God's revelation into your life. You hit on that every day, you can't not draw closer to God if you pray and study His Word every single day. What I'm saying is, because every day is unique and because you're repeating that action, that is a foundation to your day. But often the most important part of your day isn't gonna be that prayer. It's gonna be what that prayer gives you the opportunity to do. Stay with me. The 20 minutes that you are waiting at the DMV, 20 minutes, who it's who it's usually two hours. I don't know where 20 minutes came from. Whatever amount of time you're waiting at the DMV is, that's that's a time that could be very important to your spiritual growth. Well, what are you talking about? The 45-minute commute you have to work every day, where you're stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on the interstate, that is the most important part of your day. Because what I'm saying is, in that instance, in those moments, your character is actually being put to the test. You can, in those very moments, make decisions that either incrementally draw you closer to Christ or away from Christ. You can let the traffic that you already experience on a daily and weekly basis continue to piss you off, or why not try something new for once and not let it bother you? Why not sit there in the traffic, fully accept that all the cars around you who are also doing the same thing, commuting somewhere, going home, or going to work, just as you are contributing to traffic, they are contributing just as much. You are not the exception to there being traffic. Your extreme, amazing driving skills can't overcome everybody else being a terrible driver. Crazy thought. So instead of continually just getting angry at something, which truly is like toddler behavior. I'm sorry, it just is. It's frustrating to be in a hurry, and the one time you need to go somewhere, you need to get to the airport, and there's a crash, and it's very inconvenient, that is a slightly different situation. I still think a good opportunity to choose to not get angry and upset, but the mundane day-to-day life that you go on and live through each and every day, in the in the weeds of that, in the details of that living, is the opportunity to truly draw nearer to God. I I know that sounds so extreme, and this takes me back to my my two-year mission that I served, and every like six weeks, that was like our our time where we would change locations or get a new person that we would proselytize with. Every six weeks we would take an attribute of Christ. So charity, patience, meekness, humility, um, discipline, you name it, you would take an attribute and you would study it. And that study was incomplete if you didn't daily keep it in your mind, and then truly ask yourself the common cliche question: what would Jesus do? Here lies a situation before me. What would Jesus actually do in this situation? Let me pattern that. The woman at the well, the Samaritan woman, may have said her prayer in the morning, but the mundane, monotonous task of drawing water from the well is the moment that changed her life forever. Do you understand what I'm saying? The woman with the issue of blood that she had dealt with for so long. A bustling crowd of people going through the town is the opportunity she seized on to reach out and touch the hem of the Lord's garment. That simple act is what healed her. So if we were to go through most of the stories in the Bible, we can come to a conclusion. A lot of people who had their lives changed by Jesus, Peter and Andrew fishing in the boat, their their literal livelihood that they were doing, hey guys, other side, other side of the boat. What? The the net the go along the other side. What are you talking about? We've been fishing all day. That's what changed their life. If you allow your livelihood, if you allow your daily tasks, if you allow your chores to be a space where you are okay being bored and not fully being occupied, I think these are one of, if not the greatest invention in modern era. I I completely do. AirPods are unbelievably useful in my life. They I I don't go hardly anywhere without these. And a slight con that I'm starting to pick up on is the temptation to always put these in my ear. To always have some sort of media or music or podcast, and a huge feature of them is noise cancellation. And that can be nice, but what you are drowning out is not only outside noise, you're drowning out people, you're drowning out your surroundings. And there's a time and a place for that. I fully understand on the airplane with babies crying and screaming. I would rather not have to listen to that. I'd rather be deep in a podcast or have some good music on or try and sleep or something. That's fine. That's not crazy. What is crazy is you spend a whole day, these don't leave your ears. You always have something entering your brain directly, and you're giving no time for your mind to be still, to tap into being with God, and letting the spirit, really ultimately letting the spirit be part of your your daily life. And so instead of like boredom being a negative, a void that we need to fill, I think there really is a level of theology in using that as a stepping stone to get that much closer to to God. And so if your phone, if your book, if whatever your vice is, is such that it prevents you from ever being still and being quiet and being okay being alone, then I think it's become a problem. And so my invitation ultimately is that we recognize the opportunity each and every day that we have to draw closer to God by just like not consuming. It's a very common theme for me. But I just think there's so many opportunities where you can choose a higher and holier way to function or operate on a day-to-day basis. I just I really do think so. So traffic is like an obvious one. I'm trying to think what's another one. Grocery store. I have a weird habit. Like when I I like going grocery shopping. I do. I like if I have a friend that wants to come grocery shopping with me, I'm like, sweet. Like that's that's a good use of time to be with somebody. And if I'm not with somebody, I'll like listen to a podcast while I'm walking around the grocery store. And not a major issue, but it like takes you out of reality slightly, and you you might miss an opportunity to serve somebody. And I don't know if you guys have had I love I love like a human interaction in public that's just like natural and social. Like I just I love seeing that. And so I was at the grocery store the other day, I didn't have earbuds in, and there was these two women who like had one of those like like uh you know, you hit like a shimmy in the hall, like you're you're going left and they go right, and and they had that moment with their shopping carts, and they both just started like cracking up, like everyone kind of looked over, and I was getting vegetables near them, and they were just so nice to each other, like, oh my gosh, like I promise I wasn't trying to hit you. Oh, you're good, like, don't worry about it. Like that, I hate when that happens, blah blah blah. Again, I'm not like exactly sure how God fits in that. I'm just saying, like, the human uh interaction is huge, it's huge. And if that was me and I had my earbuds in and I just like steamrolled, I you know, I might have just like gone around. Whatever. Hopefully, you get the point I'm trying to make. Like, there's there's something to be said about just being in public if you're a Christian and being kind to people, and I've loved the times I've been at the store, and there's like an old lady, and she cannot reach the chicken stock on the top shelf. And oh, excuse me, son, and they call you son, and oh, that's so cute. But anyway, and can you get that for me? Yes, ma'am, I can get that for you. Nothing would make me happier than to get this chicken stock for you. I hope you have a great day. That's a great example. So take your day, your day-to-day. What do you do daily? It's probably go to work, be in traffic, and be at work around co-workers and digital error digital error, excuse me, we're all on computers typing away. We probably have headphones or earbuds, and we're not interacting. Hopefully you have friends at work. Hopefully you ask them about their weekend. You come home from work, maybe you go to the gym. And why don't you just try like complimenting somebody at the gym? This is like getting a little more into like just social self-help, but I think that's fine. My roommate and I, we've talked about this, and we're both single men, and there's something to be said about you know, we're in a a younger populated town, so there's a lot of people in their mid-20s. So when we go to the gym, we see it as a potential opportunity to meet women. It's not the greatest, but more than like our standard, you know, I work remote, so um, but we've talked about this over the last year or so, where sometimes, like, you know, we get it, it's it's a definitely like a social pressure thing, and people are watching, and if you go up to approach a woman at a gym and everyone's watching, and you ask for their number, and like you don't maybe they do have a boyfriend or a partner, and there's just a lot there. So we had the idea a while ago to just like if you see a woman that is attractive or she has a cute outfit or her her hair, she just got her hair did, or whatever. Um, with no expectations, you're not asking her for anything, just go compliment her. And honestly, this it doesn't matter. I could compliment a dude too, and and I have like there'll be a dude with like a really cool there's a guy at the gym who has this like insane sleeve. It's just the most beautiful, he's Polynesian, and it like is immaculate looking. It's so cool. And so I've like, dude, your sleeve is the that's the nicest sleeve. Oh, thanks, man. I appreciate it, blah blah blah. Um another dude who I complimented before, this was a few years ago, we were in the sauna talking, and he had something it was something about his shorts, and so I was asking about his shorts because they look nice, blah blah blah. It's kind of weird, and the sauna sweating together. Long story short, it turned out he worked at AT ⁇ T and he ended up like hooking me up with a sweet phone plan deal. So you never know what it could lead, what it could lead to, regardless. But like just telling a woman like, hey, like you, if nobody's told you today you're beautiful, just thought you should hear that. I don't need anything from you, just wanted you to hear that if you haven't heard that today. Hope you have a great day. Oh my goodness, that's so sweetie. And that's usually the reaction, and you make their day. And my roommate just today on the phone told me how last night at the gym he had like a Zelda t-shirt on, you know, just semi-nerdy, not really. I mean, Zelda's cool, um, but just like an old t-shirt that he's had for a while, and just a gym shirt, wasn't thinking much of it. And he like looked, and some girl was like smiling at him and said something to him, and he had to take his AirPods out because he didn't hear her, and that's fine. I think you should have AirPods at the gym, or else if you're just like hitting every uh every exercise, just no audio, that's crazy. But he like took his AirPods out and he was like, Sorry, what'd you say? And she was like, Oh, I just like really love your shirt, like that's so cool. And he just was like, Thank you. Like he was so taken aback by it. And anyway, they kind of like went their separate ways, and then they were like near each other again, and he was like, Hey, like, thanks again for complimenting me. Like, you don't have to do that, and she's like, No, like I just I really love your shirt, blah blah blah. They started talking. So, all of this full circle back to the message of if you are a believer in Christ, you don't have to be an extrovert, you don't have to be so over the top with your social interactions, you don't have to be perfect in the moments when you are bored. I'm not saying you 100% of the time have to just sit there like a freaking weirdo in public and not do anything. We just did a like month-long no-phone experiment. So my phone was gone for a month. And it, you know, like first day, like was kind of like weird, and then it very quickly became apparent just how unnecessary it is to have your phone in places. And the most notable was just like being out and about anytime there was like a chance to wait, the the desire to just pull the phone out, like is so prevalent, and not that not having it like really gives you a ton of opportunities to like make someone's day or whatever, but I just think there is something to be said about a connection of willingness with the willingness to be bored occasionally and the ability for the spirit to get through to you easier. I I really think there's a correlation between how much of God's spirit can get through to you and the amount of time you allow a space in your heart and your mind for the spirit to speak to you. Like that's just if A A and B, A to B to C, like that that that's a very, you know, it's the same thing. Like, if I want if I'm expecting calls from friends or from clients at work, like if I'm expecting calls from clients at work and I have my laptop off, my phone off, and I'm not wearing my watch, I'm good, like I'm going to miss those calls. Like, I it doesn't matter. Next time I get on and boot everything up, they'll pop through. But it's probably too late at that point. I might lose a deal. So it's more prevalent now than ever, than it ever has been, where I think so many opportunities are missed that God could create for us just because of modern technology and modern society and how we interact as a people. I don't know if you've ever been to a place traveling where there's just like real community, like there's just a real vibe between people. I was in Quito, Ecuador a few summers ago, and I don't know what it was, but like as the day, as the evening rolled around and and work, everyone was getting off work, there was like, and this is in the Capitol, and there's these big plazas, I mean, Central Park-esque uh grid, you know, parks in in the in the city, and there's a few of them. And the one that we were staying in and around, like everybody, it seemed like everybody in the city just like was outside, everyone's just out and about. People just out and about, hanging out, playing soccer, like flying kites, riding bicycles, having picnics, going shopping, going in and out of dinner. I mean, like, it didn't matter. You name it, it was just and that, and as we were there for a few days, like that was daily. These were weekdays. It wasn't like a festival, it wasn't a special occasion. This was just what you did. You just got out with the community, had a good time. It was like one giant, like, farmers market vibe. If you've ever been to farmers market, there's a good vibe there, it's like wholesome, and people are like interacting with like young entrepreneurs and people who are launching their business. And I love that. I love that. So, a little all over the place, hoping you get the message. But the invitation to you is realize that there is a theology in boredom, that a degree to which you are willing to just be still, don't bring your phone out, give a five-minute meditation to God every day where there's no music playing, there's no audio, and you'll realize that connects to your habits of praying and scripture study. Whatever your modern equivalent of filling water at the well is, as a Samaritan, you know, as a whatever you are, whatever you would label yourself as, that you might not think you're worthy or you might be judged because of X, Y, and Z, God will come to you at the well. Christ will come and chat with you at the well. If you just let that become an opportunity to change, it can be, but that that's initiative on our end. I don't think it's appropriate for us to expect the spirit to yell at us metaphorically, if you get what I'm saying. The spirit shouldn't have to like slap us around to get our attention. That is kind of the whole that defeats the whole purpose of how the spirit works and operates. It's it's a still, it's subtle, it's impressions on your mind and your heart and your soul. So tap into that. Thanks for watching. As always, chat in a week. Have a good one.