I’m guessing you’ve been there at one time or another. Maybe you’re there now. Everything seems to be moving along, but that is really all it seems to be doing – moving along. It seems like things are in slow motion, or it might be like a river of syrup. The excitement or anticipation for what is ahead has waned to the point where you think it might happen somewhere down the road – way on down the road beyond the horizon. The blahs have arrived and are the soundtrack to your day.
Life has its highs and lows. We deal with them all the time. Yet it seems that it is the in-between time that is often the toughest to move through with focus and purpose. If we don’t guard ourselves we become like Eeyore from the Winnie the Pooh stories – “End of the road. Nothing to do, and no hope of things getting better.”
The excitement or anticipation you once had has faded. The bounce to your step and the twinkle in your eye have settled into a plod and an occasional wink. There could be a number of factors that have taken you to this place, but it’s important that you don’t stay there. It’s even more important that you don’t fall into the trap the devil often sets in these down times – the snare of apathy.
Apathy is defined as lacking feeling or emotion; lacking interest or concern. The blahs. With apathy there is no anticipation; you’re merely plodding along from day to day. Circumstances can bring on apathy. You come to a place where you feel things aren’t going to change, and you resolve yourself to the monotony and drudgery.
Apathy Affects Its Surroundings
Both Jesus and Paul spoke of how in baking, a little yeast can affect the entire batch of dough. (Luke 13:21, Galatians 5:9) Apathy in one area of your life can do the same – eventually causing you to be apathetic about your life in general. The apathy of others can rub off on you as well – as it can draw you into a place of apathy and inaction. It is like a venom or poison. It has a steady progression that eventually brings on paralysis. Allowed to run its full course, it can be deadly.
Apathy towards your spiritual life is the most destructive form of all. It can rob you of your purpose – who you were created to be. It can rob you of your hope. It can rob you of your faith, your peace and your joy. It can rob you of the relationship God desire to have with you, and the relationships He wants you to have with others. It can rob others of the blessing you were created to be in their lives.
Simply put, apathy is a thief.
Kicking the Spiritual Blahs
So how do you kick the spiritual blahs? How do you break free from apathy in your life?
Apathy has to be dealt with as a doctor would deal with diseased tissue. It has to be cut or burnt out. It can’t be wished away, and deciding to make it go away without putting forth some dedicated corresponding action will only yield you temporary results. Mental assent will not combat its effects, and doing intellectual gymnastics won’t stop its progression. Spiritual apathy has to be dealt with at its own level.
Joy is the antidote for apathy.
Joy brings purpose.
Joy elicits action. Action with a purpose and a hope. Action and apathy are opposites. Where this action exists, apathy fades away.
Prayer and praise are keys to tapping into the joy you need to combat apathy and the blahs. A deeper look into finding your joy can be found here. Don’t’ settle for apathy in your life or your walk with God. Don’t allow it to rob you of the blessings God has for you or the blessing He desires you to be to others. Make a decision today to throw off heaviness of life, the apathy it brings, and the lack of hope it offers. Instead, look to the Lord to be who He said He would be to you, and receive what He has to offer:
Isaiah 61:1-3
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
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