The Reason Why You're Bored With the Bible

There are many reasons why you could be bored with the Bible. Maybe you have read the whole thing and already think you know what it says, so for you the repeat content is boring. Maybe you haven’t read much, but you’ve been in church enough times that you figure you know the basic gist… and it’s not something you want to hear more of. Maybe you just aren’t into books, and since the Bible is a book, therefore it’s boring. Maybe you’re into stories, and so all those Pauline epistles, poetry, and case laws in Deuteronomy… are boring! 

But I’d like to suggest one big reason why most people are bored with the Bible: because you are treating it like entertainment. 

Have you ever zoned out after reading a few sentences of the Bible? While you’re reading, are you tempted to pick up your phone to check your notifications for the 10th time? Do you regularly skip other things in order to play video games or watch that next show on Netflix? Have you ever binge-watched more than 3 episodes in a single sitting? Can you quote The Office better than you can quote Romans? 

Given the choice between reading an hour of the Bible, and playing an hour of video games… which would you more naturally choose? If someone looked at your schedule and calendar, what would they conclude you loved more: entertainment, or Jesus Christ? Let’s get crazy: Have you ever binge-read the Bible? Did you ever procrastinate on an assignment by reading the Bible? When you come to the end of a hard week, do you reward yourself with a long session of reading the Psalms? 

Our minds and hearts have been shaped by entertainment. And because the Bible isn’t “pew pew pew, superhero, scene change, boom explosion, scene change, pew pew pew, scene change, music, wow great finish!” ...we just get easily bored and distracted. We are so used to the image, the screen, the movie, the 20-minute episode that ends on an emotionally engaging cliffhanger that when we come to the BOOK it’s boring. The written Word is too slow. It doesn’t grip us. Our hearts respond with a yawn. Virtual love and digital danger seem more real to us than divine love and spiritual danger. We are so inundated with trivial (but titillating) entertainment that God's glory is obscured, as earthly banality has replaced God's beauty.

Tony Reinke, in his incisive book Competing Spectacles, explains this threat, "In sum, all my concerns are dwarfed by this one: boredom with Christ. In the digital age, monotony with Christ is the chief warning signal to alert us that the spectacles of this world are suffocating our hearts from the supreme Spectacle of the universe." (page 143) The classic sc-ifi book Fahrenheit 451 sounds a similar warning that entertainment will shrivel our minds, stunt our relationships, make us parochial, and enslave us to its thrills. 

Let’s look at the offramp to this suffocation and slavery of entertainment: The solution to your boredom is the gospel. 

The gospel is the most binge-worthy drama in the whole world. The gospel is the good news that we were made by God, rebelled against Him, deserved death, but that God loved us too much and desired to show us mercy, so He sent Christ to die in our place, to rescue us from our slavery to sin and forgive us of all our guilt and rebellion. Now we are reconciled to God, made new creations, and able to enjoy the infinite pleasures in His presence! THAT is good news. 

And the good news doesn’t just go in one ear and out the other, leaving our lives unchanged and unaffected. Titus 2:11-12 says, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age…” So God’s grace comes first, but then training come next. Grace motivates different habits. We renounce worldly passions, like binge-watching Disney+. We live self-controlled lives, not slaves to hours of video games.

So practically, if the Holy Spirit is convicting you as you’re reading this…. here are some steps to take:

1. Confess your sin to God. Admit that your heart loves entertainment more than it loves Jesus. Be honest with God that you are bored with Him. Ouch. 

2. Remember the gospel. You are forgiven of all your sin! Oh what good news that is. And it’s only good news if we really are guilty like in step #1, if we really have sinned against God. If there’s no sin, there’s no need for Jesus to die. The cross is for failures.

3. Put off that which suffocates your joy in Jesus. Make no provision for the flesh. Consider a fast from all entertainment (streaming shows, TV, video games, YouTube, movies, Fortnite, Minecraft, etc) for the 40 days of Lent (this year it starts 2/17, and goes until Easter). Yes that’s crazy. Yes it will feel like death. You might think, “what in the world will I do instead of those things…” which leads to #4.   

4. Put on that which cultivates joy in Jesus. Read the Word, binge the Bible. Pray for God to help you not be bored of the Bible. Then pray again. Pray with others. Prayer walk. Pray for unreached people groups. Pray for a friend. Listen to worship music, and sing along, loudly. Share the gospel with someone. Memorize a chapter of the Bible. Read a solid book about enjoying Jesus, like Habits of Grace. Serve others as you have been served by Jesus. Fight for joy in Christ. 

   
   

As you practice these things, I guarantee you it will not be as exciting and “pew pew pew” as entertainment, the same way that eating salad and beans isn’t as exciting as Pop Rocks and Mountain Dew. But pursuing God will satisfy your soul and give you greater joy than a hundred years of entertainment. Psalm 4:7, “You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.” Psalm 84:10a, “For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere."

God Himself is more satisfying than anything else, including all the best of today’s multi-million-dollar-budget entertainment. He’s the fountain of living waters, and everything else is just a broken cistern. The real God of the Bible is far superior to the fake god of entertainment. Jesus really is BETTER. Enjoy Him, don’t settle! 

What if you were so happy in Jesus that today’s entertainment was boring to you?