“The wicked flee when no man pursueth: but the righteous
are bold as a lion.” – Proverbs 28:1
Action
is uncomfortable, and boldness will draw attention. It is easier to hide, reason away, and use
any excuse to be apathetic. Effectively
“fleeing when no man pursueth.” The
devil uses fear and doubt as bars and chains to hold back the pursuits of the
righteous. However, what we must always
remember is, “the righteous are bold as a
lion.”
To this day, I can still remember when my Dad
first taught me how to cut the grass. He
showed me how to choke our Honda push mower to get it to start. He showed me where to put gas in if it was
lacking. He showed me how to engage the
blade and how to cut straight lines.
With sweat on my brow, an ache in my legs, and a smile on my face, I lead
that mower over the entire yard; then cleaned it off, and put it up until our
next engagement. As time went by
(coupled weeks or so), the joy of cutting the grass soon faded. When it was time to mow the lawn there was no
more spring in my step, I had to be persuaded, prodded, and lectured to get me
to do anything. The reason for my apathy
was I had learned how to talk myself into apathy. From the first time I cut the grass to the
hundredth time I cut it; the obstacles that stood in my way, largely, had not
changed. The only thing that had changed
was my outlook and attitude. The first
time, it was a new and exciting adventure.
The hundredth time, it was a chore, and when it became a chore I found
reasons why I should do nothing. In the
morning, it was too wet, in the afternoon, it was too hot, and in the evening,
it was too dark. It was always, too
hot, too cold or there was some other excuse.
I talked myself into apathy. That
is, mentally searching for obstacles to use as excuses. Intentionally enlarging minuscule adversity
in order to justify not do anything! The
reality is this does not just happen, when it comes to cutting the grass. Stop and ask yourself, how many lost souls do
you think remain that way, simply because the righteous talk themselves into
apathy? How oft do we mentally search
for obstacles to use as excuses to, not do something for God. Search your heart, has there been neglect to
witness to your hairdresser, co-worker, grocer, schoolmate, simply because of
reasoning to apathy? I myself confess
that there has been occasion where the only thing that kept me from proclaiming
the message of Christ was a raised eyebrow.
Talking yourself into apathy can extended beyond witnessing to your
fellow man. How many times have we
quenched the moving of the Holy Ghost because, “that’s just not what they do
here” How many times have we neglected
our personal devotion time to the scriptures with a promise of “I will get to
it later.” I pray that I am alone in
this experience of talking myself into apathy.
That I am very alone in this matter, but my fear is that I am not. When God puts something on our hearts,
whether it is a new and exciting adventure or nothing short of a chore, it does
not matter, we must go out in obedience.
Fleeing from the task is shameful, and wicked. The antidote to apathy is a good dose of
faith. Not that I would claim that this
is the only cure, but it is hard to find an example of a person in the scriptures
that is both full of faith and apathetic.
When
we proclaim that we are Christian’s, followers of Christ, and the Master puts
something on your heart; it is there for a reason. You might think it uncomfortable to yourself
in carrying it out. You might be a
little embarrassed or feel a little corny…well, really, who cares? Take a leap of faith and say, “Lord, I
will.” He will guide and direct you. God does not need us to be qualified; he
needs us to be willing. He will guide us
and teach us to perform that which is needful to advance his kingdom, all we
must do is leap into action.
