Thursday, December 2, 2010

Daily Light - December 2, 2010

Daily Light from the Lighthouse

"They shrugged their shoulders, stiffened their necks, and would not hear."
Nehemiah 9:29

Have you ever been in a situation where you were involved in something that was really important with a group of people? It might have been a project at work, an athletic event, or a group school assignment. You were putting forward your best effort and trying to do well, and then you realize that you are the only one that is taking it serious. When you try to encourage others to pick up the slack and handle their part of the project, they just shrug their shoulders and express that it is not big deal. That leaves you on the border of being frustrated and infuriated. How can they be so indifferent to something that is so important?
It is called apathy, and many people suffer from this debilitating disease. Unfortunately, throughout history it seems to be the #1 killer of spiritual lives. After the wall was rebuilt around Jerusalem, the Levites of the children of Israel began to recall their past and confess the sins of their nation. There was no doubt that their ancestors knew better than to ignore the law of God, but they grew complacent in following God and neglected His Word. I notice in this passage before us a progression of spiritual apathy.
First, an apathetic personal clearly knows what he needs to do. There is no doubt about the objectives that are laid out before Him in the Word of God. He cannot plead to be ignorant to God's truth. Second, there creeps within the soul of man a "who cares" attitude. Does it really make that much of a difference how we live, what we do, or where we place our faith? When our heart begins to ask these questions, we can emotionally and intellectually shrug our shoulders at God. Third, we become hardened to the truth of God, because it is obvious that we don't take it very serious. Satan now has a foothold on our apathetic hearts, and we have given him a place in our lives to cause rebellion and defiance. Finally, we just stop listening to the truth altogether. We probably didn't mean for it to get this far, but this is the result of a simple shoulder shrug. It is not that God's truth has changed or is not being declared just as boldly; it is very simply that we no longer have spiritual ears with which to hear. We have started listening to our own opinion and the voice of the Deceiver, and therefore God's truth has been drowned out by all the other noise.
We must continually be on guard for apathy and root it out at the very first sign. It can be conquered by the power of Christ, but that is the very power that apathy rejects. We must listen to the still, small voice of God in our hearts and surrender to His Word and His way.
May you care about what God cares about today!

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