| 1:48 min read |

Maybe you’ve heard the old joke about the man who asked his friend, “What’s the difference between ignorance and apathy?” The friend replied, “I don’t know, and I don’t care!” His response inadvertently answered the question. Ignorance is what you don’t know. Apathy is a lack of concern or care.

The word apathy comes from a negated form of the Greek word “pathos”—“a-pathos.” It means, “without feeling or emotion.” It includes the idea of a lack of action or responsiveness. Apathetic people distance themselves from emotions about important priorities. They have no urgency to address essentials. They make few or no commitments to things that really matter. They’re indifferent.

One of the root causes of apathy is comfort. When we become comfortable as we are, we don’t care about changing. We casually drift through life maintaining status quo.

God addresses apathy in lots of places in the Bible. One example is found in Haggai 1:5-7 (NIV) “Now this is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it.’ This is why the Lord Almighty says: ‘Give careful thought to your ways.’”

The context of this message is important. God’s people had returned from Babylonian Captivity to Jerusalem. They were supposed to rebuild the temple, but instead, they focused on building their own homes first, and had become apathetic about God’s House. God confronted their indifference. He reminded them that there’s a price to pay for spiritual apathy.

We have an enemy called apathy. Don’t let indifference shrink and impoverish your life.

Pastor Dale

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