An article in Psychology...
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An article in Psychology Today says that boredom in America has reached "epidemic proportions." Among psychiatrists it is called "the common cold of mental illness," a disease which strikes almost everyone and for which there is no known cure. "I just don't feel anything, doctor; something is missing and I don't know what it is." The illness is illustrated by the motion picture Marty where two young men, hanging out on a Saturday night, keep asking each other, "What do you want to do, Marty? I don't know. What do you want to do, Angie? I don't know, Marty. What do you want to do?" And so it goes on.
So what causes boredom? Whether we are mothers or machinists, secretaries or salesmen, what has happened to the excitement of living? Our text tells us quite a bit just by showing the contrast of what heaven will be like. Look at the first verse of chapter 21: "And the sea was no more." Do you remember how the sailors who went with Columbus almost mutinied because they were sure they would sail off the edge of the earth if they kept on going? Well, in the days of the Apostle John people were even more frightened at what lay beyond the sea, and the sea was the symbol of everything unknown and terrifying. "No more sea" would mean no more insecurity, no more uncertainty, no more fear of the future. And it's interesting how psychologists tell us that boredom is largely "a civil war within the personality caused by the desire for excitement on the one hand and the fear of the unknown on the other." That's why teenagers often seem to be so bored with life. They are just coming out of childhood and fiercely desire to be independent even while they are terrified at the thought of being on their own. We can expect that of growing boys and girls. But there is something tragic about being an adolescent for life. That's why boredom is such a sin. It shows an awful lack of trust. St. Peter tells us to "grow" (2 Peter 3:18); Saint Paul says to "press on" (Philippians 3:14) and reminds us that "all things" should "become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) But we're as frightened as the sailors with Columbus. As the article in the psychology journal put it, "When I am bored, I concentrate on what is old and familiar rather than on what is novel and exciting ... By choosing the known over the unknown, I avoid violent emotions and terrifying possibilities."
So what causes boredom? Whether we are mothers or machinists, secretaries or salesmen, what has happened to the excitement of living? Our text tells us quite a bit just by showing the contrast of what heaven will be like. Look at the first verse of chapter 21: "And the sea was no more." Do you remember how the sailors who went with Columbus almost mutinied because they were sure they would sail off the edge of the earth if they kept on going? Well, in the days of the Apostle John people were even more frightened at what lay beyond the sea, and the sea was the symbol of everything unknown and terrifying. "No more sea" would mean no more insecurity, no more uncertainty, no more fear of the future. And it's interesting how psychologists tell us that boredom is largely "a civil war within the personality caused by the desire for excitement on the one hand and the fear of the unknown on the other." That's why teenagers often seem to be so bored with life. They are just coming out of childhood and fiercely desire to be independent even while they are terrified at the thought of being on their own. We can expect that of growing boys and girls. But there is something tragic about being an adolescent for life. That's why boredom is such a sin. It shows an awful lack of trust. St. Peter tells us to "grow" (2 Peter 3:18); Saint Paul says to "press on" (Philippians 3:14) and reminds us that "all things" should "become new." (2 Corinthians 5:17) But we're as frightened as the sailors with Columbus. As the article in the psychology journal put it, "When I am bored, I concentrate on what is old and familiar rather than on what is novel and exciting ... By choosing the known over the unknown, I avoid violent emotions and terrifying possibilities."
