"How Can We Overcome Apathy in Our Spiritual and Personal Lives?"
All of us believers or unbelievers are guilty of the Sin of Apathy!
And it is even more so today in our terminally cynical age. We as Christians just back off and give up after all no one listens or they are antagonistic toward our faith.
The fact is in our post-modern age people have constructed systems of meaning/knowledge that provide all the significance/purpose they need in life. Therefore, many people don’t have a sense of needing anything spiritual or otherwise, nor are they waiting for someone (Christians for example) to come and answer all their questions. Non-religious expectations, goals, and quests for significance fill their lives. They never consider that God is missing from their lives.
Philosopher Charles Taylor has stated: “Even as late moderns live in abundance and comfort; they’re haunted by the sense that “somewhere there is a fullness or richness which transcends the ordinary”
Death haunts us all and in our culture in general is often just dismissed. But death is there, underlying everything. The popular secular sentiment to dismiss death is not sustainable.
Atheist philosopher Luc Ferry says:
“As distinct from animals . . . a human being is the only creature who is aware of his limits. He knows that he will die and that his near ones, those he loves, will also die. Consequently, he cannot prevent himself from thinking about this state of affairs, which is disturbing and absurd, almost unimaginable.
So even Atheists know that they can’t just dismiss death.
And people become apathetic for many reasons. Some people claim they are bored but that misses the obvious.
G.K. Chesterton said, “There is no such thing on earth as an uninteresting subject; the only thing that can exist is an uninterested person”
We will all answer to God for our apathy someday, the things we should have done but did not do.
Where do we start then to usurp our apathetic attitudes?
Be intentional and don’t consume junk food for easy entertainment, stimulation, or the malnourishment of selfish pursuits. As Christians, we have no excuse for slothfulness, chronic discontentment, and spiritual lukewarmness (or worse).
Pray to Christ and ask for the wisdom and discernment to act in your life and the world around you. Talk to Christ about why you feel apathetic.
Don’t spend your time arguing on social media or armchair quarterbacking. Don’t be the parent that gives a “Nazi” salute at a school board meeting. Be the parent that gets involved in their child’s school and community. Become a school board member!
I have friends who spend a lot of time and energy complaining about politics and government but DO NOTHING to make it better.
As a child of Christ, blood-bought and saved your calling does not include becoming a chronic complainer or tyrant. You will find this nowhere in the Bible.
So, we must if we as Christians desire for America to have any Christian moorings we must build those moorings with our arduous work and prayer!
Stop complaining and get involved!