Apathy...not too tastey to the palate
It's one thing to go 'hard core' in a 'hard core' place. It's another thing to be 'hard core' where everything around you cries "why bother?" Apathy is a huge spiritual stronghold in this city, and I struggle with it over and over again. It's like the Laodiceans from Revelation 3, who God warns He will spit out of His mouth for being lukewarm.
These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the ruler of God's creation. I know your deeds, that you are neither cold or hot.
I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm- neither hot nor cold- I am aobut to spit you out of my mouth.
You say 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realise that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes so you can see.
Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.
To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches" Rev 3:14-22
Apathy comes from wealth (v17) and being content in what we ourselves can accomplish. The solution is to rely on God more and more every day, which I am learning to do. He calls us to "buy from me gold refined in the fire....and white clothes to wear....and salve to put on your eyes so you can see"(v18). (anyone else notice that this is where the song 'light the fire again' got it's lyrics?)
So to fight off apathy, we need to allow ourselves to go through a spiritual 'fire' so to speak, and learn how to clothe ourselves in righteousness, and learn how to see....(The salve Jesus used to help one man see was his own spit! So we have to be willing to let God spit on us once in a while, too!) So please pray for me in that area. I don't want to fall into the lukewarm pit. I want to be red-hot, on fire, motivated and passionate! I want to KNOW God's heart, and to CRY over the things that break His heart, and GET ANGRY over the things that God gets angry about, and REJOICE over the things that God rejoices over.
"Don't let my love grow cold I'm calling out, Light the Fire again.
I need your discipline I'm calling out, Light the Fire again.
I am here to buy gold refined in the fire,
naked and poor wretched and blind I come,
clothe me in white so I won't be ashamed....
Lord light the fire again!"
1 Comments:
Main Entry: ap•a•thy
Pronunciation: 'a-p&-thE
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek apatheia, from apathEs without feeling, from a- + pathos emotion -- more at PATHOS
1 : lack of feeling or emotion : IMPASSIVENESS
2 : lack of interest or concern : INDIFFERENCE
Main Entry: pa•thos
Pronunciation: 'pA-"thäs, -"thos, -"thOs also 'pa-
Function: noun
Etymology: Greek, suffering, experience, emotion, from paschein (aorist pathein) to experience, suffer
Main Entry: im•pas•sive
1 a archaic : unsusceptible to pain
2 : giving no sign of feeling or emotion : EXPRESSIONLESS
Main Entry: in•dif•fer•ence
2 a archaic : lack of difference or distinction between two or more things
b : absence of compulsion to or toward one thing or another
Main Entry: in•sen•si•ble
lacking sensory perception or ability to react
lacking emotional response
Post a Comment
<< Home