You open the Bible. You read the same sentence three times. Your brain just... refuses to cooperate. Ten seconds later, you’re scrolling through your phone without even realizing you picked it up.
You stare at a genealogy list in Chronicles. Or maybe a weird law in Leviticus about mildew. Your eyes glaze over. (Happens to the best of us, honestly.) You start thinking about your grocery list, the car's oil change, or that email you forgot to send. Then comes the guilt. It hits hard. I’m a bad Christian, we tell ourselves. I’m just not spiritual enough. Why am I bored?
Cut that out. Seriously. That shame spiral? It’s useless. It keeps us stuck.
The problem isn't that we don't love God. The problem is that we've complicated what it means to follow Him. We get tripped up on the vocabulary. Take the word "disciple." It sounds heavy, right? Like you need a robe, a staff, and a halo. We hear that word and think of stained-glass windows and people who never lose their temper in traffic.
But in the original language, that word literally just means "learner." Not "expert." Not "perfect person who loves reading ancient texts at dawn." Just a learner.
Learners are allowed to be confused. We are allowed to be messy. Think about a student in a math class. If they raise their hand and say, "I don't get this equation," the teacher doesn't kick them out. Being a learner means acknowledging that we don't know everything yet. It means showing up, even when the textbook (or the Bible) feels dense.
Here is the other trap we fall into: The Solo Mission.
Somewhere along the line, we decided that "spiritual growth" is a solo sport. Just me and my Bible vs. The World. We think using a study guide or reading a commentary is "cheating." Like we have to squeeze all the wisdom out of the text with our own brain power, or it doesn't count.
That’s crazy. Really. It’s true. We weren't meant to do this alone. We need backup. We need voices that have walked the path before us to say, "Hey, don't worry about that verse for a second, look at the bigger picture here." Or, "Yeah, that part is confusing; here is what it meant to the people who wrote it."
This is why we need to get over our pride and use the tools available to us. There are resources out there designed to bridge the gap between "I want to grow" and "I have no idea where to start."
Take a look at something like The Mentoring Project. It’s not some high-brow theological institute where everyone speaks in Latin. It’s more like a big brother who has actually read the manual and wants to help you figure it out. If you feel like you're wandering in circles, you should visit The Mentoring Project to get your bearings. It’s less about following rules and more about understanding how life works.
They have these things called "Life Skills" guides. They aren't dusty textbooks. They are practical roadmaps for the stuff we actually deal with, relationships, character, handling our money without going broke, and reading the Bible without falling asleep.
It changes the game when you realize you don't have to invent the wheel every morning. You can lean on the wisdom of others. You can use a guide.
If you are tired of guessing or if you're just tired of feeling guilty about your quiet time, take a second to explore The Mentoring Project resources available online. Most of them are free. They are there to help us move from "confused staring" to actually getting it.
Let’s stop trying to be impressive "super-Christians." Let's just be honest learners. Let's admit when we need help, grab a guide, and actually enjoy the process of getting to know God. We’re in this together, after all.