We live in a day and age where amusement and entertainment rule media consumption. That's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, in many ways, entertainment does bring benefits but it can also pose challenges when unchecked and unaccounted for.
Because entertainment is so easily available, it's no wonder boredom strikes so easily. With one swipe of a phone or a click of a tab, we have all sorts of media - from written, video, audio and interactive - literally at the tip of our fingers. Because we can access entertainment so quickly, we can be intolerant when that access is taken away or not possible.
Getting so quickly bored sets us up easily for other downfalls that are sinful. Here are three of them:
Idleness
Idleness and boredom are two different things. We can get bored when we are idle but we are not always necessarily idle when we are bored. While there is nothing wrong with getting bored, God does have issues with being idle. Idleness is really just another way of saying laziness and it goes against God's design for us which is to be fruitful.
Ecclesiastes 10:18 tells us, "Laziness leads to a sagging roof; idleness leads to a leaky house." When we are lazy and idle, we close ourselves up to the productive and perfect will of God.
Impatience
The one thing that impatience and boredom have in common is that they happen when nothing is happening. But impatience and boredom are two different things and impatience is the worse among the two. When we have impatience in our hearts, it communicates a level of mistrust or dissatisfaction towards God and His timing.
When it comes to patience, I am always reminded of the story of how Abraham and Sarah came upon the idea of having Ishmael through Hagar. It was a clear sign of impatience that was rooted in pride and disobedience. Let's refrain from birthing our own "Ishmaels" in our boredom and wait on God.
Idolatry
When we are bored, we tread on thin ice because it can sometimes (but not all the time) reveal what our heart truly values. We see this a lot with people who get bored when internet is out of range and they lose interest. We can sometimes grow too attached to our social media and online amusements that they become idols.
An idol is anything that we can value more than the things of God and boredom can be a clear sign of things that have taken their place in our hearts as idols and replaced worship, praise, gratitude, contentment. Boredom in this sense is actually good in that it reveals the content of our hearts and allows us the chance to prune things that don't belong there as soon as possible.
