Nothing More Than Apathy

“It’s coming down to nothing more than apathy
I’d rather run the other way than stay and see
The smoke and who’s still standing when it clears”

Over My Head–The Fray

Rather than hook with you an exciting introduction, allow me to start this post with a question: How many times have you seen Christians with this attitude? This attitude of total apathy, that someone else will take care of it, because I, I of course, am too busy and have already made my weekly offering to “the church” (which is, in fact, only a building, but that is a different topic, for a different day). The attitude of sadness and irritation over our moral decline, but hey, what can you do about it? All nations fall, right? They hear “Be the change you wish to see in this world”, say “Hey, great concept, really amazing thought”, and do what the next day? Go to work, keep your mouth shut about anything that goes against God, because “I’m not pushy”.

American Christians are in a total state of apathy. The ones that aren’t are called radicals. “Hurrah!” we say, “Good for them! But that life is not for me, oh no, I can’t do that.” What would you say if I said this life was not about you? What really matters at the end of your life? For God to say to you, “Well, congratulation, I’m so proud of you, you never stepped outside your comfort zone”? Or for Him to say to you, “You fell crazily in love with Me and did all you could. You lived for Me, you died for Me. Everything you did was for Me. Well done, My good and faithful servant.”

As a Christian, Christ is within you. Anything you say about yourself, you are saying about Christ. Replace “I” with “Christ” every time you make an excuse. “Christ can’t afford to make that sort of donation to World Vision. Christ doesn’t have the time to go on a missions trip. Christ doesn’t have the interest in traveling to that conference, He’d much rather focus on buying a house.” Would you ever say that about Christ? Would you ever say that Christ didn’t have the patience to work with misbehaving inner-city kids? Would you ever say that Christ didn’t have the optimistic spirit of others and couldn’t help but spread doom-and-gloom everywhere He went?

Perhaps I am a little zealous at this point because of the past few chapters I’ve read in Crazy Love by Francis Chan. Perhaps it is only a stage. But I pray, I pray with my whole heart that it’s not a stage. My life was made by God, for God. If I can’t live for Him, what is the sense in wearing Christ’s name? One cannot call themselves an engineer, then commit 30 minutes a day to being an engineer and spend the rest of the day being a zookeeper. One cannot call themselves a Christian, then commit only 30 minutes a day to being one. In a way, this is a bad example, because being an engineer would not be your identity; however, being a Christian is. Christian is what you are. You are not who you want to be, because in the end, you don’t matter. To borrow a comparison from Crazy Love, you are only an extra. People don’t watch the movie to see you, they watch it to see God, the main character. There are several other characters in the movie, but in the end, what do we really care about? That we were happy? Or that others saw that we loved God with all and every fiber of our being?

I understand that much of this is probably gibberish. They’re only thoughts flowing from my brain to my fingers in an unorganized and quite confusing fashion. It’s likely I’ll sit down soon and convert it into something more structured. But until then, I want you to think about it. Are you apathetic? Or are you in love — and showing it.

Thoughts on Do Hard Things

"Most people don't expect you to understand what we're going to tell you in this book. And even if you understand, they don't expect you to care. And even if you care, they don't expect you to do anything about it. And even if you do something about it, they don't expect it to last. We do."

--Back cover of Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris

This is the type of dynamic writing I aspire to. It jumps right out and grabs you by the head and says, "Listen up. Are you going to excel or are you going to meet the world's expectations?" My personality is one to reply, "You can't even begin to make me not do something about it and not have it last." However, one of my many character flaws is procrastination, quickly followed by laziness. Of course I will do something, but it hardly lasts. Even if it does last, I drag my feet and lose enthusiasm.

Do Hard Things has challenged me on many levels, including my spiritual life, my personal goals and aspirations, and my habits. It wasn't extremely profound, it really wasn't. In fact, a lot of it seemed like common sense to me. But the more I read, and the more I thought, the more I realized that it was on paper. Sure, lots of people realize the thoughts presented here. Sure, lots of people want to do something about it. But it wasn't on paper. Once an idea is on paper and is staring me in the face, I feel suddenly like it must be done. There's something about the challenge of a to-do list. True, this book is not meant to be read as a to-do list but it has some of the same qualities for me.

"Well, are you going to do it and scratch it off?"

Makes me want to grab a Sharpie and scribble out things I've done already.

By putting this on paper (yes, I will be printing this), I hope my resolutions will stay strong. I want to be the one that people aren't really noticing but is making a difference anyway. I need to do hard things. Ironic thing is this: Shyness is what I've always been known for, but deep down inside, I want to reach out to people and care for them. Not casual care, like missions or soup kitchen, but a heartfelt sincere care. The kind of care that reaches out when others are too busy and pulls them into a hug and says encouraging and kind words and actually means it. (Now if only I can beat down the sarcastic, impatient smart alec inside me.) If everyone took the time to do so to one person everyday, I firmly believe the world would be a better place. But I am shy to the point of avoiding eye contact even among close friends.

These are the sorts of ideas that are written about in Do Hard Things. Young people who decide that nothing can stop them from doing what they know is right. The world may ridicule, there will be obstacles to overcome, but doing hard things is not for quitters. It requires faith and determination--and lots of it. I only pray that I can maintain this level of faith and determination required.

This is my resolution to do hard things.

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." --Mahatma Gandhi