• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • CommentGo Back
Download
 
Indifference – The Great Destroyer
Indifference is one of the scariest words in the English language for it is a word whosecompanion is another word called failure. The word indifference refers to an attitudeheld by a man or woman indicating a lack of zeal or commitment or concern regarding whatever that person is indifferent toward. There are many things a person can beindifferent toward and it does not make the least bit of difference. For example, I amindifferent toward what car you drive. Any make or model or year makes no differenceto me. I just don't care. My indifference in that matter hurts neither me nor you noranyone else.However, what if you drive that car we were just talking about while drunk? Would Ithen be indifferent? Not toward your driving I wouldn't be. What if you have a child who is indifferent toward school and getting a good education? Would that concern you? Would you be indifferent toward that?Even more so what if you have a son or daughter, a husband or wife, a mother or father,a brother or sister, or a close friend who is indifferent toward God and his word and thustoward their soul's salvation, what then? What then indeed and that is what makes the word "indifferent" such a fearful word? If God and his word are matters of no seriousconcern to me, if God is only going to make my top 100 list of most important things tome in my life, if he gets that high, then realistically what kind of hope do I have of salvation? To be indifferent is to not care. If you do not care about God, about his will,about going to heaven, if you are disinterested in living a faithful Christian life what joy do you bring to God? Grief and sorrow yes but joy no. A lot has been made of the fact that salvation from sin is a free gift from God. This whiletrue when properly understood is seldom understood properly because seldom taughtproperly. Men have gotten it into their heads that their soul's salvation is solely dependent on God. No need to seek God, from their point of few, despite the fact hesays in his word, "He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him," (Heb. 11:6 NKJV)the very thing the indifferent will not do. No need to study the Bible. God is love. Godis grace. God is going to save everyone no matter what he or she believes or practices just as long as he believes that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world and thatin the most abstract sort of way. Attend services wherever you so desire, no matter what they teach or practice, or don'teven attend anywhere if you don't want to. It will make no difference just so you believein Jesus. That is generally the Christian (?) world we live in here in America today.False teaching along this line has led to a lot of the indifference we see in religion today,not all of it for there are other contributing factors as well but a lot of it.Indifference is one natural byproduct of denominationalism. If it really does not matter what you believe or practice just so you believe in Jesus then certainly one can beindifferent about both doctrine and practice. What difference does it make if we are allgoing to be saved anyway? I thus see people who think they are going to be saved whonever darken a church door for a worship service. If they have a Bible they would have
 
to hunt it before they could read it and then dust it off for it has set that long unread andunused. They virtually never read it.The scariest thing for me when it comes to one's loved ones having indifference towardsGod and salvation, toward spiritual matters, is that indifference is one of those types of sins that is nearly impossible to get people to see in their own lives and thus to own upto and repent of. They do not see themselves as being indifferent but are satisfied they are doing all that is necessary for salvation (even though it is nothing) and will be savedas they are. Nothing is necessary for God will take care of it all. Somehow they think everything is just going to work out for their salvation.I said earlier that indifference has a companion called failure but indifference also hasanother companion called satisfied. Satisfied does not repent. Satisfied does not seek,knock, or search in any way for anything other than what satisfied already has forsatisfied is satisfied. It becomes, a result of that, nearly impossible to get people who fitinto that state of mind to a state of repentance. They are not interested in studying orsearching the scriptures for they are indifferent and content. What does the Bible say or teach on this subject? That is our concern or ought to be forno matter what you or I think about the matter it is what God thinks that counts. It istime to turn to the scriptures.One of the first passages that comes to mind is Rev. 3:15-16 where Jesus is directing amessage to the members of the church at Laodicea and says this, "I know your works,that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth." (Rev.3:15-16 NKJV)Jesus is talking to Christians here. Does it sound like they are in a saved state? What do you think? If you will read one verse further (verse 17) Jesus goes on explaining,"Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.'" (Rev.3:17 NKJV) They were perfectly satisfied. Please note carefully the words from thispassage, "have need of nothing" expressing their satisfaction.If lukewarmness is one step above indifference, if it is, and this is what Jesus thinksabout the lukewarm what do you suppose he thinks about the indifferent? But there aremany other passages.One such passage is Luke 10:25-28:"And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I doto inherit eternal life?' He said to him, 'What is written in the law? What is your readingof it?' So he answered and said, ' ''YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND,' and 'YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' ' And He said tohim, 'You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.' " (NKJV)
 
The law that was being lived under at the time of this exchange was the Law of Moses but I have never known or heard of a man who believed that he could go to heaven without loving God in our own dispensation under the law of Christ. But how does onelove God who is indifferent to reading and studying God's word, indifferent to worship,indifferent to learning truth from error, indifferent to living the Christian life? Along the same line of thought Jesus said, "He who loves father or mother more thanMe is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." (Matt. 10:37 NKJV) Is love indifferent? Is love uncommitted? Do theindifferent toward God, his word and his will, love Jesus more than mother or father,son or daughter? Are such worthy of eternal life with Jesus? What did Jesus say?In another statement Jesus said, "Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Mecannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:27 NKJV) What kind of cross does the indifferentperson bear for Christ? Can such a person be a disciple of Jesus? What does the textsay? Read it again. The indifferent individual is an individual that is left out in the coldand it is his own fault. That said, and the Bible being true, the cold will in due time turnto heat unless the person breaks the shackles of his/her indifference.In the Old Testament God said, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." (Hosea4:6 NKJV) If it happened to them could it not happen to people today? The indifferentcannot gain knowledge of God for the attitude of indifference creates no desire to seek and learn. Mr. Indifference is also Mr. Satisfied with the way things are and what littleknowledge he already has.Jesus said, "seek, and you will find," (Matt. 7:7 NKJV) but one's indifference keeps himfrom seeking and thus from finding. We are to "seek first the kingdom of God and Hisrighteousness" (Matt. 6:33 NKJV) but the indifferent have no will to seek.The Bible teaches the love of God or put another way, love for God, is keeping hiscommandments. "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." (1John 5:3 NKJV) Jesus said, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." (John 14:21 NKJV) "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word." (John14:23 NKJV) "He who does not love Me does not keep My words." (John 14:24 NKJV)The indifferent cannot do that. Why? Because he/she is too indifferent to read, study,and learn the word that Jesus would have them keep. They are satisfied with what they have. They will never wear a Bible out from use. If they have one it will be in nearly asgood a shape 5 years from now as it is today. They do not know the truth from study of the truth. What they know is only what they have heard which may or may not be thetruth and what they believe is that which has satisfied them whether it be truth or error(they know not the difference).The sad truth is many are going to die eternally simply because they did not care enoughto be saved. When you stop to think about it Jesus taught a great deal on the idea of  being ready, of making preparation, for his return and the Day of Judgment. Theparable of the ten virgins comes immediately to mind. Another passage that comes tomind is found in Matt. 22:11, the account of the man who came into the wedding
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...