Why Boredom Is a Sin
The following is the second in a three-part series, all excerpted from Eric Geiger's recent book How to Ruin Your Life. Following a season of grief, when Eric's team watched several people close to them implode, Eric, a senior vice president at Lifeway Christian Resources, challenged his team to learn from King David's fall and humbly rely on God's grace to keep them from falling. The challenge and resulting conversations turned into a book, in which Geiger offers thoughtful, biblical advice on what a ruined life looks like, and how we can seek mercy in the midst of the mess. Last week, Geiger discussed the temptation of isolation. Here, he discusses the sin of boredom.
The Lord calls our restless wandering from Him a double evil as we simultaneously abandon Him and seek satisfaction in something else. Whatever else it may be, it is less than Him, and He calls it "a cracked cistern that cannot hold water" compared to Him, "the fountain of living water." A cracked cistern is terrifying for people who depend on cisterns to drink, because it means they'll thirst to death. He is a fountain of living water that continually quenches, and seeking something else is as ludicrous as relying on a cracked cistern for water.
The heavens are "appalled and shocked" at our foolish trade as we exchange our Creator for creation, our Savior for things that can never fully save, and the only One who can satisfy our souls for things that are unable to do so.
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Foolish trades are always appalling and shocking. For example, a father joyfully and carefully prepares the perfect steak on the grill for his middle school son, the filet mignon he personally picked out from the butcher shop and marinated in his special seasoning for the last twenty-four hours. He cooks it just right, and proudly delivers it simmering to the kitchen table as the aroma from the grill rushes inside and fills the kitchen. The son takes one bite, winces, and asks his mother if he can have a Pop-Tart for supper instead. The father is appalled at his son's choice and shocked that his gracious gift is traded for something so much less.
Or imagine if the Golden State Warriors decided to trade Steph Curry, one of the greatest pure shooters in basketball history. Fans would be livid. People would picket and protest. The decision to trade Curry would be the center of conversation on sports radio and television. But imagine if Curry was traded not for another professional basketball player, but for a middle school boy who had not yet hit his growth spurt. Fans would be utterly shocked because the trade would be beyond any reason.
Our decision to trade God for something else is infinitely more appalling. The distance in greatness between the steak and Pop-Tart, between a NBA super-star and the scrawny middle school sharp shooter, is infinitely less than the distance in greatness between the Lord and everything else. Nothing comes close to comparing to Him. He alone is God. The heavens are appalled and shocked because God is immensely greater than anything else we could behold.
When our hearts are not filled with wonder for God, we wander from Him, which is why true boredom is a sin. If we are bored we are looking for something other than God because God never bores. Boredom is proof our hearts have wandered from Him and are not resting in the only One who can give us rest. Jared Wilson insightfully wrote:
Boredom is a sin so long as Christ is infinitely beautiful...Because the good news proclaims the unsearchable riches of Christ, who opens the window looking out on the eternal mystery of the Trinity, it is endlessly absorbing, dazzlingly multifaceted. When we are bored, it can only be because we have stopped looking at Jesus. He can't be boring. If we find him boring, it's because we are boring. The deficiency is ours, not his.
Boredom is sin because we are telling God that we are not looking at Him because we do not believe Him, in that moment, to be ultimately worthy of our attention and affection. Our boredom says, "God is not enough for us so we are looking for something else." Though boredom may not lead to murder and adultery, it always indicates a dethroning of God and an enthroning of something other than Him.
David's implosion shows us that not only is boredom sin, but it also leads to other sins.
Boredom can lead to materialism. If you long for a new car, boat, or house because you are bored with your status in life, then you are looking to the car, boat, or house to bring something to you that only He can bring. And you are telling Him that He is not enough for you.
Boredom can lead our minds astray. If you are looking at pornography or Facebook stalking a crush from high school behind your spouse's back, you are not merely saying you find your spouse boring, you are declaring that God and His plan for your life is boring.
Boredom can lead to gossip and slander. If you need to be in the know, need to have your mind tickled with rumors about someone else because it makes you feel alive or important, you are insisting that God is not enough.
Boredom can lead to living for and from one vacation to the next, or one weekend to the next, and not faithfully stewarding your current responsibilities. Conversely, boredom can lead you to seek your identity in your craft, in your career. Either way, boredom means you are looking at something other than Him.
The only way to be satisfied is to look to the Lord because only He is the fountain of living water. The quicker we realize and the more frequently we are reminded that He is the only One who will not bore, the better we are. Our boredom is a blessing if it causes us to leave behind what bores us for Him.
