The Blessing of Constant Curiosity
How curiosity will help you grow as a follower of Jesus.
You’ve never experienced a struggle quite like taking your mom for a high-school math class. People assume you have a built-in tutor at home, but this is not exactly the case. My mind often wandered in class and I grew frustrated when I could not immediately finish homework. As I ranted to my Mom about how ridiculous her area of expertise was, I declared one night that, “Math is boring.” Her response has become a legend in my family and challenged me for the rest of my life–“You don’t know enough about math to be bored.”
Curiosity keeps life from becoming boring and monotonous. Even as we crank through multiple weeks in a row of following the same daily routine, if we are learning new things, we never get bored. We may be tired, but we aren’t bored. Curiosity makes us ask questions about the world around us, research answers to our questions, learn new skills, refine existing talents, and implement new daily routines.
During my Seminary days, I took a course in Old Testament Theology with Dr. Daniel Block. He told us we should never lose our sense of discovery. We need to keep asking questions that get us up in the middle of the night looking for insights. Here was a man at the top of his field and he still sounded as excited as a schoolboy about learning new things.
When we turn our curiosity toward Bible, its very structure invites us to realize how much more we have to learn. Two testaments, seven major divisions, sixty-six books, and 1,189 chapters provide us with a framework for challenging ourselves to learn. When our Bible reading grows stale, we can ask a simple question–which book of the Bible do I know the least about? Then, dive into a study of that book. Or we can take a book we think we know well and ask which chapter or section of the book we struggle to understand.
If we never stop asking questions and never stop striving to learn more, life will not get boring and we will not stop growing. Instead of scrolling through our phones or rewatching “The Office” for the seventh time, think about what you wish you knew, make a plan for learning about it, and get to work. The effort will be worth it in the end.
Related Posts:
”Why You Should Read Genesis”
For Further Reading:
The Curious Christian by Barnabas Piper