I think everyone has one area in their life in which they continually struggle-that area for me is apathy. I struggle with apathy most when I am hurt by someone. A couple years ago, I was tremendously hurt by multiple Christians in our church. The way that I typically choose to cope when I get hurt is by withdrawing from people and refusing to get close to people. I have never been a "people person", but I began to take that to an extreme. Life was fine as long as I didn’t have to trust people. Shortly after I was hurt, I realized that withdrawing was taking it’s toll on me, and I needed to step out and trust people again.
I took an opportunity to trust, and was hurt again. I felt like it was a slap in the face since the person I chose to trust this time knew my story, and knew what I had been through. Life just didn’t seem fair. Withdrawing only seemed fair, when nothing else did. But my coping mechanism-withdrawing-made me apathetic. I realized this one day when my husband called me with some exciting news,and I found myself knowing I should be excited, but yet couldn't muster up any excitement within me.
Not knowing what to do about it, I began searching for a way to get over my apathy. Almost by accident I came across a podcast called Choosing Action Over Apathy. It was a sermon by Jack Graham from Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. I had never heard of him or his church before, but this sermon has helped me tremendously!
Here is some of what he had to say:
-Have a personal vision! (This is something I was lacking, and knew I needed to work on.) God calls us from doing nothing to being active, aggressive, obedient, joyful servants of Christ. Don't be idle, and don't settle!
According to Pastor Graham, there are 3 virtues to help us move towards action from apathy:
1. Obedience. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Finding your purpose in life motivates you to obey God. Vision produces passion!
2. Diligence. Don't be slothful/lazy! Have a strong work ethic. Whatever you do in word or deed, do unto Christ, and not man! It's about choices-choose diligence!
3. Resilience. Keep going even when you don't want to! God has given us a life-what we do with it is our gift back to God.
I took an opportunity to trust, and was hurt again. I felt like it was a slap in the face since the person I chose to trust this time knew my story, and knew what I had been through. Life just didn’t seem fair. Withdrawing only seemed fair, when nothing else did. But my coping mechanism-withdrawing-made me apathetic. I realized this one day when my husband called me with some exciting news,and I found myself knowing I should be excited, but yet couldn't muster up any excitement within me.
Not knowing what to do about it, I began searching for a way to get over my apathy. Almost by accident I came across a podcast called Choosing Action Over Apathy. It was a sermon by Jack Graham from Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. I had never heard of him or his church before, but this sermon has helped me tremendously!
Here is some of what he had to say:
-Have a personal vision! (This is something I was lacking, and knew I needed to work on.) God calls us from doing nothing to being active, aggressive, obedient, joyful servants of Christ. Don't be idle, and don't settle!
According to Pastor Graham, there are 3 virtues to help us move towards action from apathy:
1. Obedience. "Where there is no vision, the people perish." Finding your purpose in life motivates you to obey God. Vision produces passion!
2. Diligence. Don't be slothful/lazy! Have a strong work ethic. Whatever you do in word or deed, do unto Christ, and not man! It's about choices-choose diligence!
3. Resilience. Keep going even when you don't want to! God has given us a life-what we do with it is our gift back to God.
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