Are you suffering from reboot fatigue?

It’s a new phrase for the current entertainment landscape where it seems you can’t get on Twitter without reading about a new reboot or remake of a classic TV show or movie.

You’ve seen the stories about shows like “Full House” (now redubbed “Fuller House”) and “The X-Files” coming back to our screens. Shows you didn’t even realize anyone cared about are being relaunched for a new generation to not really care about them all that much.

(Me? I’m just over here waiting for a new “Double Dare” series. Come on – we need more Super Sloppiness on our screens.)

Though I may be suffering from a little fatigue from reading about reboots and relaunches and remakes every day, that doesn’t mean they’re a bad thing.

You might say they’re just a side effect of our MORE MORE MORE binge watching culture. Instead of being satisfied with a great story we demand another and another.

But I think something deeper is going on. I think the reason we love reboots and remakes is because we are relational.

God created us to be in relationship with one another. So when we connect with fictional characters its like we’ve created a relationship with them. We long for relationships to continue when they come to an end.

We hold out hope that the story isn’t truly over. Reboots are a way of extending these stories and keeping them alive, retelling them for a new generation.

Sometimes our real-life relationships need reboots to stay alive as well. This is why married couples head to marriage boot camps or renew their vows. When you want to stay committed to one person for your entire life you often need to shake things up and remember why it is you’re committed in the first place

So why not take this reboot approach when it comes to our relationship with God?

Spiritual relationships suffer from the same fatigue that physical ones do. As incredible as our God is its easy for us to get burnt out on our pursuit of Him from time to time. There’s no shame in that. The problem is that sometimes we become content with this malaise. We don’t try to do anything to fix it on our end, waiting on God to do all the work.

While we it is true that as Christians we ultimately must entrust control of our lives to God, a relationship doesn’t work if only person is doing all the work. There are certain things we can do on our end to refresh our walk with Him if it is feeling stale.

So if your spiritual life appears stale or stuck or stopped, why not try one of these reboots?

1) Change What You’re Reading: Every couple of years I like to buy a new Bible, usually in a new translation I’ve not used before. I like to make new highlights and notations and discover God’s word in a different way. Some people use the same Bible their entire lives. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But for me, having a new Bible freshens things up and helps me rediscover verses I’ve read countless times.

2) Change The Way You Spend Time With God: Pick a new Bible reading plan. You can find lots of apps that offer hundreds of plans. Or you can just do a Google search and find one. If you usually have a quiet time every morning try doing it every night instead. Try a more analytical approach, getting out a pen and paper and writing down what you learned that day. Read your Bible for memorization, committing one verse to memory every week. If you always read out of a physical Bible try using your phone or your iPad. Or vice versa. Use one of the incredibly in-depth commentaries you can access online for free that can open up your understanding of the word. Instead of praying with your mouth or silently try writing or typing out your prayers.

3) Change Your Scenery: Go outside. Listen to a sermon in your car. Try reading the Bible at work on your lunch break. (I keep a small Bible in my car and in my office for times like this.) Attend a conference or a retreat or a mission trip. Visit a different church with a friend or family member or coworker – not because you want to church shop but just to experience a new aspect of God’s community. Or take a Sunday away from corporate worship entirely. Maybe you need a break from it to see it in new eyes. If you haven’t been attending church at all recently, go back to one. Dip your feet in. Go to a small group.

Ultimately this all comes back to changing your heart. If your’e suffering from spiritual fatigue, pray and ask God to change your heart, to bring you a deeper connection, to make His word come alive more fully as you read it. 

Your spiritual life is too vital to let it lay dormant for too long. If you’re bored with it, if it’s not bearing fruit, it’s up to you to do something about it. It may be time to reboot your relationship with God.

What about you? What do you do to reboot your relationship with God? Which of these ideas sounds like something you might try?