Watch
New Here
redeemer-blog-gospel

Your Apathy is Killing You

Nov 13, 2022 2:13:00 PM

Do you have a vice in your life that you wish you could overcome? We’re not talking about limitations or inabilities, but self-defeating vices–harmful habits that harm you or keep you from becoming what you want to become. The Bible talks about these kinds of self-defeating behaviors in detail in Romans 6:1-14. In the Biblical context, spiritual vices are called sin and they don’t keep us from losing weight or making the sale (although they can), but they separate us from God and keep us from enjoying a relationship with him. Sin is just apathy toward God, or thoughts, actions, and behaviors that are contrary to what He has said. 

The urge to neglect God or openly rebel against Him seems to be incredibly powerful, and in fact, it is. It’s no wonder that the Bible personifies and describes sin as a creepy prowler that is  “crouching at the door” (Gen 4:7), “seizing the opportunity” (Rom 7:8) to “deceive us” (Heb 3:13) and “master” us like we are “slaves” (John 8:34, Rom 6:20). The Bible says that this “power of sin” to completely dominate and destroy us actually rules us until we are born again, at which time something truly remarkable happens. Sin loses its power. In order to understand this, we need to understand Romans 6:1-14.

In verse 4, Paul states that Christians have been “buried…into death” but that we can walk in newness of life. Notice the power of sin here. Sin brings death. In previous chapters of Romans, we are taught just how pervasive sin’s consequences are. Sin brings physical death but also a kind of spiritual death where our ability to be in close relationship with God is completely severed. Gratefully, salvation brings us new life. So Paul is asking the question, “If we are made alive, why would we ever pursue death again?” In practical terms, sinning after trusting Jesus is like having a surgery to repair a body part, and then willingly injecting a toxin into that body part instead of doing physical therapy, which, of course, would be utter foolishness.

Then in verses 6-11, Paul explains sin’s power and Christ’s even greater power over sin by using an interesting term he calls the “old self.” In verse 6, Paul states that our “old self” was crucified and that by its death, we have been set free from sin. Here’s how the logic goes:

Our old self is shackled to sin’s power. The only way to do away with sin’s power is to kill the old self. It is crucified when we trust Christ. Just like Christ was raised to life and death no longer has power over him, we were raised to life and sin has no power over us. In fact, we’re free now to live to God, just like Jesus lives to God.

Two massive takeaways are in this passage:

  1. You don’t have to sin. It will not dominate you and you are not a slave to it.
  2. Apathy is just as destructive as rebellion, but you don’t have to be enslaved to apathy either. You can live a zealous, faithful life.

We have to address a glaring question at this point: If believers are in Christ and sin has no power over us, why do we still struggle to overcome certain sins? Why are we not always excited about knowing God?

The answer is simple and explained in verses 12-14. We have trouble overcoming sin or apathy because we still don’t think rightly about who we are in Christ and because we keep offering ourselves to the same habits that bring us death. Because we don’t think rightly, we stay in the rut. Living in the rut forms and shapes the way we think...which keeps us offering ourselves to old habits. The pattern becomes cyclical and self-feeding. In order to break the pattern, we have to stop offering ourselves to sin and instead offer ourselves to God (as verse 13 puts it). Another way to say this is, “turn from, turn to.” 

Here’s how it works. Let’s deal with apathy first. The opposite of apathy is not high-energy or emotionalism. The opposite of apathy is faithfulness and we’re usually apathetic toward God because we don’t really think He’s that engaging or exciting. So what do we do when we find ourselves faithlessly neglecting God? For starters, we might need to get a good night of sleep. Apathy loves to lurk in the tired mind. But beyond that it takes a change of mind. God really is exciting and we have to turn away from patterns that keep us in the rut  of self-pity, self-indulgence, or being entertained, and turn to patterns that connect us to God (Bible reading, prayer, His church). Seeking God both individually and in community with other believers will provide the space in our hearts for God to replace apathy with devotion and zeal. It sounds too simple to be true, but it really is that simple.

On the other side, what about sin that seems too strong to resist?  The process is the same because the problem is the same. Sin reigns when we think it will bring us more life or excitement than God will. Notice the lie? Where we don’t believe rightly about who we are in Christ and we offer ourselves to sin rather than to God, we stay in the rut. So again, Romans teaches us to use the 1-2 punch of turning away from a particular sin habit and turning to God by putting ourselves in places where we can connect to God (Bible, prayer, community). This takes time, repentance, and effort on our part, but God works miraculously through this daily faith to break sin patterns in our lives.

One quick note about habit-breaking: many sinful behaviors become habitual for us physiologically. Our bodies can literally grow addicted to these habits and patterns. Sometimes God quickly removes those physiological responses and those sins are no longer an issue for us, but more often, we break these habits by working with God, through the power of His Spirit, turning from sin or apathy and offering ourselves to God over and over again, in a process that grows us in our relationship with Him. This process may feel slow, like getting in physical shape, but the daily practice of turning from and turning to makes space for God to change us so that we become the new creation that we want to become.

You May Also Like

These Stories on The Gospel Changes Everything

Subscribe by Email

No Comments Yet

Let us know what you think