are bored people boring?

St John Chrysostom calls us out on being "just like everyone else" today in A Year with the Church Fathers. And his words are so timely, it's hard to believe he didn't write them today.

He actually lived and wrote around the year 400. When you read his thoughts on Christians, though, it doesn't seem like he wrote 1600 years ago. His message is for us today, and it's about being Christian. Christian, of course, means Christ-like. And if you know anything at all about Jesus, you know He wasn't boring.

But many of us are bored in church, right? We can tend toward living bored lives when we try to "be holy". It's alot more fun to go out and sin, right? Take a look at this: LINK TO SITE ON BEING BORING. Notice anything interesting about that list? Many of the things on the list are things that, if we are really following Jesus, we don't be doing. Like, for instance, living in our comfort zone.

If you have walked with Jesus for any length of time, you know that He is constantly pushing us out of our comfort zone. He is calling us to love that smelly guy on the street. To visit the sick people in the hospital (not comfortable!). To go see people in prison and let them know they're not forgotten. That's REALLY not comfortable, and it's not boring! But it IS hard, right?

And that's what happens. We shy away from the hard things that Jesus calls us to, and find the directions in our lives that are comfortable and easy and normal. And then we wonder why we're bored... and boring.

As Christians, we need to respond to Jesus's call to explore and go on adventures and develop hobbies (that can translate into "going into all the world and sharing the gospel" and "practicing the corporal and spiritual acts of mercy" (see my blog from a couple days ago if you don't know what those are)). Then we won't be bored... or boring.

Following Jesus is an incredible journey full of excitement and adventure. As long as we stick close to Him.

God, thank You for calling us to an interesting life. Please give us the courage to live it.