Chapel Blog
The Man's Hand
Have you ever said this phrase, “I’m bored!”? Stop it, immediately!
Being bored is an indictment on you, not on the circumstances or the people around you. That’s why if you ever say, “I’m bored” around me, my response will often be, “There are no boring circumstances, only boring people.” And then I’ll attempt to help you discover something exciting to do in that moment.
What is being bored? Maybe a lack of creativity, combined with a purposeless listlessness. Maybe it’s laziness, or procrastination. Maybe it’s latent frustration or a sign of some hidden dependency you’ve been deprived of (ahem, like your phone!).
Boredom could also be about fear. It’s hard to step out of things you’re comfortable doing. It’s hard to meet new people, try new things, run an experiment, test the waters, and stretch your mind. To thrive you’ll need to get good at never being bored and solving your boredom requires you to stretch your faith, to step out into the unknown on an adventure. Or you can just play another game of Brawl Stars...BORING!!
Being bored is an indictment on you, not on the circumstances or the people around you. That’s why if you ever say, “I’m bored” around me, my response will often be, “There are no boring circumstances, only boring people.” And then I’ll attempt to help you discover something exciting to do in that moment.
What is being bored? Maybe a lack of creativity, combined with a purposeless listlessness. Maybe it’s laziness, or procrastination. Maybe it’s latent frustration or a sign of some hidden dependency you’ve been deprived of (ahem, like your phone!).
Boredom could also be about fear. It’s hard to step out of things you’re comfortable doing. It’s hard to meet new people, try new things, run an experiment, test the waters, and stretch your mind. To thrive you’ll need to get good at never being bored and solving your boredom requires you to stretch your faith, to step out into the unknown on an adventure. Or you can just play another game of Brawl Stars...BORING!!
Faith is tricky, because by definition, if we know the outcome already it’s not faith. To act in faith means to confront the unknown; to act in faith means to get good at learning, growing, and stretching forward.
Consider the story of the man with the withered hand in Matthew 12:10. Jesus asked him to stretch out his hand, even though it was withered. A strange request! Jesus asked him to do something that it was obvious to everyone he was incapable of doing. Why? Because to do it the man would have to believe Jesus’ word, before he had proof. That’s what Jesus wants from us, to stretch our faith toward Him and trust Him.
This man’s actions also served as an excellent object lesson for confronting the legalism of the Pharisees who had all sorts of laws about what can and can’t be done on the sabbath.
The Pharisees didn’t understand God’s heart. They heard His command to rest on the sabbath day and assumed it only meant – do no work. How boring, right?
Jesus used this man to illustrate that the day of rest (the sabbath) was not a wasted, boring, do-nothing day; it was a day of recovery, and worship. It was a day where we get to stretch out our faith and believe God. We don’t have to live with a crippled hand, or in modern terms, like we’ve got one hand tied behind our back. We can stretch out our faith to God and watch him multiply that faith to all those around us.
Stop allowing yourself to use the lame phrase, “I’m bored.” Life is too short, and God has too much in mind for you to do to settle for such a wasteful idea. With Jesus, even the simplest and most mundane of moments can miraculously transform into an eternal investment if you’ll stretch out your hand to God
and believe.
and believe.
Westminster Christian School, located in Palmetto Bay, Florida, is a private, college-preparatory school for children from preschool through twelfth grade.