Answers
By BGEA Admin • January 9, 2024 • Topics: Family
Q:
I’ve exhausted every way to entertain my family. We’ve seen every movie, explored every amusement park, toured the great parks and cities of the world and cruised the oceans. I thought I was doing the right things by broadening their minds and experiences, but my teenagers tell me they’re bored. What does this signify?
A:
From the writings of the Rev. Billy Graham
America is said to have the highest per capita boredom of any spot on Earth! We have the greatest variety of artificial amusements. People have become so empty that we can’t even entertain ourselves.
Boredom is not a minor matter. While everyone may experience boredom at times, this dangerous apathy creeps over the land and into minds and hearts. Man is the only one of God’s creatures who is capable of being bored. No other living thing except man can ever be bored with itself or its surroundings. This is very significant, for the Creator never does anything without a purpose, and if He gave man the capacity for boredom, He did it for a purpose. Boredom is one of the sure ways to measure inner emptiness! It’s as accurate as a thermometer for telling just how hollow the inner spirit really is; the inner self is a vacuum. It is one of the unfailing rules of this universe that all vacuums must be filled, and filled immediately. We’ve tried to fill our lives with science, education, and pleasure, but the world is filled with nations of empty people.
Why are we so empty? Because God, the Creator of life, made mankind for Himself, and we will never find completeness and fullness apart from fellowship with Almighty God. Jesus said, “Man shall not live by bread alone” (Luke 4:4, NKJV). And our youth especially are desperately searching for purpose and fulfillment. The Bible says, “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things” (Jeremiah 33:3, NKJV).
(This column is based on the words and writings of the late Rev. Billy Graham.)
