Live Life as an Adventure

Do you feel purposeless, or are you are bored with your life?

Are you bored with doing the same thing day after day? Perhaps you wake up in the morning, go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch TV, then go to bed. Your weekend routine may be different, but overall each day seems pretty much the same. Life is boring.

Do you drift through life, almost like a sleepwalker? Or do you simply put in your time until you die and face God? Do you:

• Live day to day bored, without a sense of purpose.
• Have trouble identifying your purpose.
• Ignore God’s purpose for your life.

Are you consumed by your difficulties and troubles? Do you find life frustrating because of all the problems you face? Your boss is unfair, your co-workers don’t like you, your spouse nags, everything is breaking down at home, and your children are a pain in the neck.

Live life as an adventure

You have a choice about your attitude and how you approach life.

Life does not need to be boring or meaningless. You can choose to approach every day and every activity with a spirit of adventure, regardless of your situation.

You have a purpose and are called to a great adventure—to touch people’s lives for God.

In every interaction you have with anyone, look for ways you can bless, encourage, or help him or her.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)

To be successful in your adventures, walk in God’s strength, not your own.

In Samuel 14:1-15, we read about Jonathan, a man who succeeded against impossible odds because he battled in the power of God. Bathe your projects and your life in prayer. Stay close to the Lord. Remember that you are a soldier in Jesus’ army, not the general of your own army. When you walk in God’s strength, you will not be bored.

Five ways to approach life as an adventure

1. Make everything you do an adventure.

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. (Colossians 3:23)

2. Make it an adventure to minister Jesus to others.

You are an ambassador of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:20 and Ephesians 6:20). Pray and look for opportunities to be a good ambassador in everything you do and everywhere you go.

• Pray and look for opportunities to tell others about Jesus (Matthew 28:19).
• Pray and look for opportunities to help others.
• Pray and look for opportunities to encourage others (Ephesians 4:29).
• Pray and look for opportunities to thank others.

3. Make it an adventure to pray for others.

Devote yourself to prayer. Study Colossians 4:2.

4. Make it an adventure to grow in the Lord.

Many people make it an adventure to grow in physical strength or athletic abilities. That does a little good, but growing in godliness does much more good (1 Timothy 4:8).

• Pray and look for opportunities to develop your gifts and talents (2 Timothy 1:6).
• Pray and look for opportunities to grow in the Lord.
• Approach Bible study as an adventure. Treat is as a way to know God better and to grow in him. Read the Bible daily. Ask the Lord to help you look at Bible study as a delight, not a chore.

Praise the Lord. Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who finds great delight in his commands. (Psalm 112:1)

I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word. (Psalm 119:16)

5. Respond to hard times with a spirit of adventure.

It can be thrilling and rewarding to live life as an adventure, but remember that adventures are often difficult. Be prepared to go through hard times without giving up.

I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world. (John 16:33)

• Ask God to help you respond to accidents, illness, and other misfortunes.
• Pray to win opponents over. Overcome evil with good (1 Peter 3:9).
  a.  If someone criticizes Christianity, see it as an opportunity to share the gospel.
  b.  If others are mean to you, make it a project to demonstrate God’s love to them.
  c.  If you need to confront someone, see it as an opportunity to lovingly help him
  or her (Galatians 6:1).
• See problems as opportunities to grow in love, patience, and wisdom. Pray, “Thank you, God for this opportunity to grow in faith and wisdom.” Read Romans 5:3-4 and James 1:2-4.

Personal application

a. Ask God to help you maintain a spirit of adventure as you go through life.

b. What is one way in which you will apply these “boredom cures” and approach life as an adventure this week?