Apathy, Change, and Radical Relationship

Hey readers,


I posted this as my facebook status yesterday:


‎"...From the least to the greatest, their lives are ruled by greed. From prophets to priests, they are all frauds...Are they ashamed of their disgusting actions? Not at all-they don't even know how to blush!...Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:13-16 (NLT)


Obviously, this is not the passage in its entirety. Facebook only allows a certain amount of characters in a status update. I have been thinking a lot lately about things like, Apathy, Change, and Radical Relationship like the title of this post says. These things arise out of my current state of restlessness about my own relationship with the Creator.


I often have periods of time where I feel really restless about my life, and feel as though I need to change things. Usually this means I think about radically altering the physical space that I am in, for example, thinking about moving to a different country or something extreme like that. I am realizing that this might not solve the thing that is causing me to be anxious or restless. Perhaps it is the Holy Spirit within me rebelling against certain things in my life that are hindering me from putting time and effort into my relationship with Christ, or perhaps God is actually calling me to go somewhere, or perhaps calling me to prepare myself for whatever may come in the next step in the journey we call life.


Apathy:


It seems to me that in this day and age of instantaneous media exposure and constant connectedness that apathy is rising. There are a lot of things the media tells are are fine, good, and acceptable. I'm sure that God would not approve of a lot of these things that we find normal and socially acceptable. I want to take a stab at sexual innuendo, there is so much sexual innuendo woven into dialogs and interactions on television and movies that it seems that saying things that are derogatory towards women are acceptable and even praised. I think that in a previous post I talked about "That's what she said..." jokes. I don't approve of these jokes anymore, even though at one point I prided myself at being "quick-witted" enough to beat my friends to the punch when it came to making these jokes. When we overlook things like the way that we talk, and the way in which we use our speech we ignore the clear warnings in scripture that the tongue is dangerous and we need to be aware of what we are saying and how it affects people around us as well as our own lives. The more we choose to let little things slide, the easier it will be to let bigger things slide. The way we talk is a representation of what's really in our hearts and minds. If we are to be ambassadors of Christ, shouldn't our speech be righteous and honorable and pure? We are all human, and make mistakes, but don't use this as a cop-out to not think about what you say.


Change:


In life, things are constantly changing. You can choose to accept this fact and adapt to what's going on around you, or you can take offense to every change that comes along and do your best to be a stick in the mud. I'll admit that often I have the urge to change things, just for the sake of changing them. This can be beneficial, and other times not so beneficial. I think that in my life, my focus has been distracted from my relationship with God a lot. I want to change that. I want to become a better person, but I've recently been thinking about that desire, and finding that as much as I try to change myself, which works for a time. I need to be focusing on knowing God more, rather than being better at looking like I know God. If I get to know God more, my actions, thoughts, and desires will change, and transformation will occur from the inside out. I want my life to be changed by the real relational knowledge of God, and time spent in his presence. Because, if I'm just changing because I want to be better, and not because I am getting to know God better, then I'm missing something vital. God is love, and he wants to share his love with us, so we can share it with others. God has promised that we will find him when we look for him, if we search with all our heart. (Jeremiah 29:13)


Radical Relationship:


As with a lot of my posts the topics I discuss all kind of overlap. I have been pondering the questions of "Why is Christ important in my life? Why would anyone who is not a believer need to believe in Christ?" These questions come to my mind because of my current job/ministry. I work with students who may or may not believe in Jesus, and may or may not care about knowing him. If being a good person is what Christianity is all about; putting on a mask that says everything is alright, and I love Jesus and am a good person. If bettering ourselves is all Christianity is about, then the message of Christ is irrelevant. Then we can get to heaven by doing good works, and nothing else matters. Jesus is the key, because a relationship with him will transform us. It should transform us. Thinking about this has caused me to realize that I have spent too much time trying to become a better person and do everything on my own strength and understanding. I need to lean on Christ, to spend time with him in prayer, and reading his word so that I can know him better. If I can know his heart, and experience his love, then there is a relationship. In youth a few weeks ago we were discussing the truth of Christ's second coming, and how his coming again will/should affect our lives. Most youth said that it should affect our lives more, but that it really didn't a whole lot right now. We need to spend more time building a relationship with God. If we have a vibrant relationship with him, we will be excited that he'll come back right? I want to be ecstatic at thinking about Christ returning to the Earth. I want to have a relationship with him that is deep, rich, and enduring. A relationship that affects my life and changes me, changes the way that I live and the decisions I make. If busyness is what is hindering your relationship with Christ, you are losing out on the experience of his love and need to unbusy yourself and MAKE TIME for GOD. He sent Jesus to die to save us from our sins so we could be in relationship with him, what have we sacrificed to work at that relationship?


Glory and Praise to the Almighty!