Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton on Unsplash
By Mike Chaffin
Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Proverbs 3:3
The cure for apathy is love and there is no better way to start a discussion on love than this verse,
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. John 3:16
We have a path to Heaven through God’s love and His sacrifice on the cross. We only need to ask Him to forgive our sins and come into us as Lord and live in us. Then in response to His love, we become His disciple. This is so we can know God, and trust and serve Him.
There is no way to be apathetic when you are walking on the path to Heaven, with your eyes fixed on Jesus. It is only when we get tired and get sidetracked, take a detour off the path, or lose sight of our calling can apathy break in.
The two greatest commandments are full of love. First, we are to love the Lord our God with all our hearts, souls, and mind. Then, we must love our neighbors as ourselves. We can’t love God with everything we’ve got and be apathetic to His commands. We can’t be apathetic to our neighbor if we view their life like it is our own.
Perhaps the greatest warning we have in this present time is Jesus’ prophecy about the last days. He warned apathy would become rampant.
And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But he who endures to the end shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come. Matthew 24:12-14
Therefore, we must be cognizant when we start thinking apathetic thoughts. We need to repent and love. Jesus teaches that we are to love even our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. It is easy to forget to love those who hate us but as the proverb says,
Hatred stirs up conflict, but love covers over all wrongs. Proverbs 10:12
In a most poetic fashion Paul teaches about the gifts of the Spirit. After he lists them, saying how great they are, he says there is still one greater gift than all and that is love.
4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
Love is the key to life.
Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for loving me so much you gave your life for me. I didn’t deserve it, but your love is unconditional. Help me to cultivate this same kind of love for my friends, enemies, and those who hate you and yours. In Jesus’ name, amen.
