Apathy

Apathy is an absence or suppression of passion, emotion or excitement. An apathetic person demonstrates a lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting. God does not want us to be apathetic.

• Revelation 3:15-17 HCSB I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, 'I'm rich; I have become wealthy, and need nothing,' and you don't know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,

Apathy is driven by complacency, a feeling that we are good enough. It leads to not listening or paying attention to God’s wisdom.

• Isaiah 32:9 HCSB Stand up, you complacent women; listen to me. Pay attention to what I say, you overconfident daughters.

Those living in Zion felt secure and at ease, not knowing the danger that lurked even in their midst! Apathy will blind us to danger. We may feel carefree but we are actually in mortal danger.

• Amos 6:1 HCSB Woe to those who are at ease in Zion and to those who feel secure on the hill of Samaria--the notable people in this first of the nations, those the house of Israel comes to.
• Zephaniah 2:15 HCSB This is the self-assured city that lives in security, that thinks to herself: I am, and there is no one besides me. What a desolation she has become, a place for wild animals to lie down! Everyone who passes by her jeers and shakes his fist.

Thinking that we are good enough will cause us to not seek, follow or inquire of the Lord. It literally leads to “godlessness.”

• Zephaniah 1:6 HCSB and those who turn back from following the LORD, who do not seek the LORD or inquire of Him.

Apathy leads us to simply pass by other’s troubles and pains.

• Lamentations 1:12 HCSB Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see! Is there any pain like mine, which was dealt out to me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His burning anger?

God describes apathetic sinners as having hearts of stone. They are difficult if not impossible to change. Thus apathy is a very grave sin.

• Ezekiel 11:19 HCSB And I will give them one heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone from their bodies and give them a heart of flesh,
• Zechariah 7:11-12 HCSB But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they closed their ears so they could not hear. 12 They made their hearts like a rock so as not to obey the law or the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of Hosts.

Apathy leads to hard hearts, obstinacy, futility of thought and callousness of the conscience.

• Ezekiel 2:4 HCSB The children are obstinate and hardhearted. I am sending you to them, and you must say to them: This is what the Lord GOD says.
• Mark 6:52 HCSB because they had not understood about the loaves. Instead, their hearts were hardened.
• Ephesians 4:17-19 HCSB Therefore, I say this and testify in the Lord: You should no longer walk as the Gentiles walk, in the futility of their thoughts. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them and because of the hardness of their hearts. 19 They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.

An apathetic person will end up having no regard for what is right or wrong.

• Ephesians 4:19 HCSB They became callous and gave themselves over to promiscuity for the practice of every kind of impurity with a desire for more and more.

Jesus told a parable about a wicked judge who had no concern for God or man. In the end he had to do what was right but he got no credit for it. He went down through history as a wicked man. God’s will WILL be done, if not by us then by someone else. Apathy will cause us to lose opportunities for mitzvah’s that God presents to us.

• Luke 18:1-5 HCSB He then told them a parable on the need for them to pray always and not become discouraged: 2 "There was a judge in one town who didn't fear God or respect man. 3 And a widow in that town kept coming to him, saying, 'Give me justice against my adversary.' 4 "For a while he was unwilling, but later he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps pestering me, I will give her justice, so she doesn't wear me out by her persistent coming.'"

Apathy will spiritually blind and deafen a person.

• Ezekiel 12:1-2 HCSB The word of the LORD came to me: 2 "Son of man, you are living among a rebellious house. They have eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious house.

Apathy may cause a person to miss the invitation to be in God’s kingdom. It will lead us straight to hell.

• Matthew 22:1-5 HCSB Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables: 2 "The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. 3 He sent out his slaves to summon those invited to the banquet, but they didn't want to come. 4 Again, he sent out other slaves, and said, 'Tell those who are invited: Look, I've prepared my dinner; my oxen and fattened cattle have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet. ' 5 "But they paid no attention and went away, one to his own farm, another to his business.