Playing the flute for Snorlax

One of the hardest things within my life to deal with is laziness and boredom. It is sad how both of these go hand in hand. Because of laziness, we do less and have more free time. Through this free time, our laziness builds and soon we begin shirking even more and more of our responsibilities. Eventually boredom becomes a daily problem and suddenly we are using energy to find ways to fill our free time, but only ways that entertain us in the way we want to be entertained.

As a Christian, this will kill and destroy us. James 2:14-26 is one of the most often cited sections of scripture but many times we forget to apply the principle in different parts of our life. In these verses we are reminded that faith without works is dead and works without faith is meaningless. Our faith, our relationship with God is dead if we do not have a form of works to accompany it. Laziness comes in and steals our joy, kills our motivation, and destroys our life. And soon we have robbed Christ of one of His most important gifts to humanity. This gift is not life. This gift is not abundant life. This gift is the chocolate river in Willy Wonka's factory. It is winning a lifetime supply of pizza. It is a life giving water that never runs out. It is life MORE abundant.

Imagine you are walking down a new path, during a long and exciting journey. You are exploring new places and finding new friends. But then, you look up and there is something blocking your path. This is how you meet Snorlax. The only way to wake up Snorlax is take time to find the Poke-Flute, then you must go and play it for him. After he awakes, you are free to continue on your journey. (Or as anyone who has played Pokemon knows, you spend the next 2 hours attempting to catch him.) We need to find what our Poke-Flute is. What can wake us from our sleep of laziness and boredom?

The Bible is very clear on this subject. Ephesians 5:14-17 says

"Awake, sleeper,

And arise from the dead,

And Christ will shine on you."

Therefore be careful how you walk, not as unwise men but as wise, making the most of your time, because the days are evil. So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

This blog actually began because I struggle with this problem. I have had a very difficult finding friends during the past few years. This difficulty was only compounded through massive amounts of schooling and becoming a stay at home dad. Luckily, I have a large amount of family members who have filled most of this time, as well as a loving wife who saw this laziness/boredom and urged me to start a blog. The worst part of my laziness though was my rejection of God. He was constantly playing a Poke-Flute for me. He was speaking to me saying, "Arise. Stop sleeping. Accept my gifts, live life, and seek after me. Remember my greatest commandment. Love others and love me. Laziness has no part in this love. Seek my kingdom first. Seek me."

I believe these are the steps, the Poke-Flute for our generation.

1. Wake up!
2. Accept Christ's gift of abundant life. This is done by accepting Him and the sacrifice of His life.
3. Love God.
4. Love Others.
5. Seek after God and His Kingdom.

The last three all tie into the idea of not seeking after your own joy. Many times, boredom arises because we are attempting to find something that will make us happy or bring us joy. This does not occur when we are around others or in the presence of God. When we are around others, we do not care only about ourselves. Our desire is to enjoy the time with our friends. Our love for those around us counteracts boredom because we are no longer seeking after something just for our self.

God's plan for our life is greater than anything we could create. Through our trust in Him, our love for Him, and our seeking after this plan, we will be just like Snorlax when he hears the Poke-Flute. We will wake up from our sleep, from our boredom, from our laziness, and begin to actually live life.