This week was the 7th week of our Recovery series. We spoke on Apathy out of Revelation 3:14-16. This is a quick recap of this week’s Gathering:
In its most basic terms, Apathy is a lack of interest and concern. It’s a state of indifference. Maybe it’s a little of caring about the wrong things too much and caring about the right things too little. Or just not caring about anything at all. It’s coasting. And Jesus says this is a problem because it’s not what you’re made for. Apathy is a disconnect from our purpose. Apathy is a loss of vision of who God is and what our purpose is as Christians.
There are three main causes to Apathy:
Wealth
When life is comfortable, it can lull you to sleep. When you have all of your felt needs met, you can begin to believe that God isn’t necessary. It’s going to be harder to trust God, love God, and love others when you have a lot of stuff and this might sound counterintuitive - but when you have all that you want and need, what reason do you have to depend on God for anything? When you believe that you earned all that you have why would you bother to look out for those less fortunate than you? Trusting and following Him over your wealth will always be a struggle.
Fear of Failure
Another place apathy comes from is fear. When we’ve been hurt by others or maybe tried hard to follow God and failed the result can be tragic. So because things have happened, to protect ourselves, we’ve decided that saying “I don’t care” is easier to say than “I’m scared of what might happen again.”
Exhaustion
We get so busy, and life gets so full, that we just switch over into survival mode and the things of God just get squeezed out. We don’t even necessarily want to be apathetic, but what else are we supposed to do. So we try to justify it, and we become the type of people who are spiritually lured to sleep because we believe everything else must take priority.
Solution
The grace of God saves us and motivates us to stop doing certain things and start doing others. To be self-controlled - meaning having the ability to choose to do things for our good and the good of others even when we don’t want to. It’s like going to the gym. You want to go to the gym for the first week you’re a member at the gym every other day it’s a chore. But, you do it because you know it’s good for you. The cross has put away all earning. Actively fighting against apathy, actively doing the opposite of what we feel like doing, isn’t legalism it’s exercise.
So here are some quick ways to exercise:
1. Meditate on the Gospel
2. Say Yes
3. Pray Heavily For Someone
4. Have someone over for dinner
Songs:
All Creatures by King's Kaleidoscope
We Sing As One by Young Oceans
Come Thou Fount by King's Kaleidoscope
God of Ages Past by Shane and Shane