Having grown up in a third world country, I have seen true poverty. In Guatemala, people who were finished with their chores would sit outdoors and contemplate life. They were not stressed out, even though they were poor. They didn’t feel that they had to be doing something every second in order to be happy.
In America, there are so many options for continuous entertainment. Most Americans become angry if they don’t have the extra money to do everything their heart desires. They lash out at the people around them that they are miserable, even though they have already spent lots of money on entertainment.
The sin of boredom is truly ugly. It reveals a heart of self-centeredness. Instead of asking God who to minister to at that moment (either by phone or in real life), they think only about themselves. They lack love. Love seeks the good of others above oneself. The majority of Americans have no love. As Jesus tells us about these end times in Matthew 24:12, “Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold.”
We are commanded to be different from the world. First John 2:15 says, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them.” What a cold statement! The love of the Father is NOT in the man who loves the things of the world.
Even the fluff entertainment (that might not be sin in and of itself), when indulged to excess the way that Americans do, leads to tens of thousands of squandered hours. We will stand before God and give an account of our time. We will be ashamed. We will wish we had the time back to glorify God rather than indulge our flesh.
But very little of today’s entertainment is harmless. It causes us to indulge in sins of the mind, which lead to sins of action. As a whole, American Christians don’t even have a conscience any more. No only do they indulge in wickedness, but they feel entitled to self-pamper their greed every waking moment.
When the Israelites in the wilderness were “bored” with the manna that God miraculously provided, God sent quail for meat, and God struck dead the people who were bored, wanting more variety in their life. This is how God feels about boredom. It’s inextricably related to ungratefulness. God had supernaturally provided for all their needs, and they slapped God in the face because they DEMANDED more variety. They were angry that God did not give them more variety. They were ready to go back into slavery in Egypt rather than “put up” with God’s provision. What rotten people! No wonder God struck them dead!
Yet we are WORSE in this nation. God has given us more riches than any preceding time in history, and instead of being fully satisfied with our manna from God, we slap God in the face and demand to be self-pampered with whatever we can think of. If we can think it up, we should be able to do it without hindrance. How dare God say that we can’t do whatever we feel like doing?
God, have mercy on our nation where we say, “Have fun,” every time someone leaves the house to go out, as if the goal of life is having fun. Instead we should say, “Find ways to glorify God while you’re out.” Are we actually Christians, or do we indulge our flesh to the same level as the world?
This is the second in a series of “Indictments Against the Sins of America.”
- The Sin of Entitlement
- The Sin of Boredom (this post)
- The Sin of Lust
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