Who Likes Boring?

Who likes dull, lifeless things?

How many people live in pursuit of the bland? Gray may be an in-vogue color for a wall in one’s home, but it is never in vogue as the condition of one’s heart. Where is the color and the fullness? Where is the life? Where is the brilliance?

The word brilliant comes from the Latin “to sparkle” and is defined as “full of light; shining intensely.” Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony is considered brilliant in that it outshines other symphonies. With quite possibly the most recognized musical introduction of all the classics—Da da da dummmmm—the Fifth is a beaming masterwork.

When you think of brilliant minds, Buddha, Confucius, Plato, Augustine, Leonardo da Vinci, Shakespeare, Benjamin Franklin, Frederick Douglass, Einstein, or George Washington Carver may come to mind. These are historical luminaries.

But do you ever think of Jesus’s brilliance? Are His teachings ones that “shine intensely” to you? The apostle Paul believed Jesus shined so brightly that he wrote, “In [Christ] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Do you consider the teachings of Jesus as diamonds and His ways as pearls?

One example of Jesus’ brilliance is The Lord’s Prayer. His prayer is far more brilliant than Beethoven’s Fifth, da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, and Carver’s chemistry combined. To help make the point, pastor and author R. T. Kendall wrote:

“The Lord’s Prayer is verbally inspired by the Holy Spirit and therefore perfectly worded. It is a revelation of how we should pray because it mirrors God’s will for His people. It cannot be stressed too much that Jesus Himself is the formulator of it—every single word—and if you want to know at least once that you prayed in God’s will, the Lord’s Prayer is for you.”

Do you notice the brilliance? INSPIRED by the Holy Spirit. PERFECTLY WORDED. REVELATION. The Lord’s Prayer is not a random collection of a few words thrown together. It’s inspired, perfect, and reveals so much of how we should pray and gain the blessings of every single word.

No one wants to be bored, or boring. No one likes dull, lifeless things—including dull, lifeless prayers. Jesus gave us His full-of-light, intensely shining Prayer so that His life could be unleashed in us, radiant and brilliant. We all make choices. For me I’ll choose a life unleashed over lifeless. I’ll choose radiance over darkness and dullness. I’ll choose brilliance over a dim, dull, gloomy life.

The question is, will you?

1 Vocabulary.com, s.v. “brilliant,” https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/brilliant/.
2 Colossians 2:3
3 Dr. R.T. Kendall, The Lord’s Prayer: Insight and Inspiration to Draw You Closer to Him, (Grand Rapids, MI, Chosen, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2010), 29.