Through My Own Eyes

In a world with many distractions and desires that can pull you away, God wants to have your full attention with fervent zeal and adoration for Him, but very often times come where you feel sluggish and bored with the things of God, and you come to a point in your walk where you are at a standstill; you’re not moving forward in your walk, but you’re not exactly giving up either. You are at a place of being apathetic, and that is a dangerous place to be in your walk with Christ. I’m going to go over some key points of why Christians become apathetic, and how to change it.

What do you notice about this picture above? You see the trees and bushes with a pretty background, but what’s that? The water is completely green; it’s stagnant, and that’s not good. Water that sits for a few days is bound to carry all sorts of bacteria and germs as it needs to constantly be moving, that way it doesn’t get polluted. What does stagnant water have to do with this topic of an apathetic Christian? It is the same result when a Christian becomes apathetic in their walk; they become stagnant, which eventually makes them unfit for the things of the kingdom of God (like stagnant water is unfit for any good use). You have to constantly be moving forward, or flowing forward, as we could put it.

Apathy can come through a few things, like trusting in your wealth or material things (like the Laodicean church in Revelation 3), unbelief (Hebrews 11:6), a lack of love for God (Matthew 24:12), and a hardened heart (Hebrews 3:12). These are things that can trip you up in your walk with the Lord and can be detrimental to your future with Him if left untreated. The key thing to point out is that these are sins, as being apathetic is a sin because it revolves around self-sufficiency, which is a form of pride. It replaces reliance on God with self-reliance, which is something God detests; God is relational and wants fellowship with you, because He is a God who though is completely independent of His creation, wants a restored relationship with you which comes through becoming born again by placing your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. There are many distractions that can throw you off in your walk, so I’m going to mention some things that can help you get re-aligned with God, and to get back on track.

Some key points into getting back on track with God if you become apathetic is this: replacing your zeal from worldly material things to the spiritual things of God, igniting the fire for God by getting back to reading/studying Scripture and praying, getting back to serving others, and choosing to love and forgive.

The main theme in these points is that you must repent of your sins of letting yourself get to the point of being apathetic and regain your passion for the Lord. You must come to the conclusion that you let yourself get to that point, whether it be letting yourself get distracted (1 Peter 5:8) or hardening your heart against God and/or other people (Hebrews 3:13). The concept of being passionate for the Lord and loving Him with everything you have, is a choice, and one that is going to determine how you see the world. You will either choose to live for Him, or the things of this world, and this world is perishing. 2 Peter 3:7 makes mention that the present Earth we live on will one day be destroyed by fire and be made new, that the very elements themselves will melt with extreme heat, and everything will be remade: it will be Creation 2.0, and the curse of sin will be done away with for good. It is a sobering alarm that should have us come to a pause when considering the next course of action.

It seems kind of foolish that we would put our trust in material things, but you’d be surprised by how much we humans love our toys, to have tangible possessions that we can collect and store up, and it’s because they are things that are visible, but 2 Corinthians 4:18 tells us that we are to put our focus on the things that are eternal (God and His kingdom), and remembering that the things here on the Earth are temporary. Since this present worldly system is fleeting it is much better to trust in God than your possessions, would you agree? The best way to focus on heavenly things and not the physical things here on earth is to not make idols out of them, to not love them so much that you feel like you need to cling to them; God demands to be in 1st place, and He doesn’t settle for anything less.

I’ve noticed that when I read Scripture, when the tough days come, I am well fed spiritually, and I am not as irritable than the times I have gone not reading the passages; I tell myself I need to read the Bible when I can, because if I skip it a couple days it will show up in my mood, but maybe that’s just me. The point I’m trying to make is that reading Scripture goes a long way, and studying it helps even more; prayer is another tool that is essential in your walk as it is the proper way of communicating with God. Like I mentioned that God is relational, well that applies to communication. It’s pointed out in 1 Thessalonians 5:17 that we need to always be praying, to pray as much as we can; it says this because the world is constantly trying to draw you in with its distractions. It’s trying to take your mind off Christ by having you pursue fleeting pleasures that have no eternal value; do not take the bait.

The last two points kind of go hand in hand (loving and forgiving and serving). Jesus says in the New Testament that the greatest commandments is to love God in everything and to love others as ourselves (Matthew 22:37-40), and for good reason. If we can’t love God we can’t love others, and if we don’t love others how can we love God? When we choose to forgive others of past wrongs, we are showing the kind of love that God expects out of His children, and that’s one step to a deeper maturity in your walk with God and a way to break apathy. It is an act of the will, to choose to love others (not so much tolerating sinful behavior, but being patient with them), and it helps everyone involved. What are some ways you can love others in your daily life?

To sum it all up, all these traits of apathy can be done away with by keeping a repentant heart and getting back to the things you were doing before. These days are dark, and it’s good to remember that for those that belong to Christ there will be a day that will come where all the saints are gathered around His throne and will give Him praise for eternity; what a beautiful thought! If you come to the realization that you are apathetic to the things of God, you can get back on track when you repent sincerely, and all the things you did before will flow right back in; you will basically be picking up where you left off.

The Scriptures are clear that we are to be vigilant, always keeping a watchful eye for the Lord’s return, so don’t be apathetic; don’t let your zeal die for things that will fade away, but cling to the things of eternal value, with the best one being a relationship with God. Believe in Him and have faith, and we will see what He has in store for us; an eternity with our God and Savior awaits!