Attacking Apathy

Merriam-Webster defines “apathy” as “a lack of feeling or emotion” or “a lack of interest or concern.” An apathetic individual is one who has grown complacent. The apathetic is identified as “lukewarm” in the letter to the church in Laodicea in Revelation 3:14-22. The apathetic is “not on fire for Jesus” or “turned off by Him” that He never talks about Him – he is somewhere in the middle caring not, thinking not and doing not. The apathetic knows just enough about the existence of God and His Word that he could be mistaken as Christian due to His outward religious behavior, but the complacent heart is hidden from most.

In J.P. Moreland’s book Love Your God With All Your Mind, this description of the complacent is given: “The couch potato is the role model for the empty self, and without question, modern Americans are becoming increasingly passive in their approach to life. We let other people do our living and thinking for us: the pastor studies the Bible for us, the news media does our political thinking for us, and we let our favorite sports team exercise, struggle, and win for us. From watching television to listening to sermons, our primary agenda is to be amused and entertained. Holidays have become vacations. Historically, a “holiday” was a “holy day,” an intrinsically valuable, special, active change of pace in which, through proactive play and recreation, you refresh your soul. A “vacation” is a “vacating” – even the language is passive – in order to let someone else amuse you. The passive individual is a self in search of pleasure and consumer goods provided by others. Such an individual increasingly becomes a shriveled self with less and less ability to take control of life.”

In 2018, attack the apathetic tendencies in your heart. Pray that God would stir you each day to live for Him and advance in the battle to become holy. And tackle your apathetic affections by reading books that will provoke you to live in a more righteous way.

One such book I read at the end of last year that I would recommend for such an endeavor is Brett McCracken’s Uncomfortable: The Awkward and Essential Challenge of Christian Community.

And memorize the following verse to recite when the temptation to apathy is present – “Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord” (Romans 12:11).