AVOIDANCE OF APATHY

When one is set free indeed by Jesus Christ, the avoidance of apathy is crucial. We were not set free to become spectators but to become excitedly engaged in Kingdom work for the Lord. Having been set free, the question one may ask is: Where does one go from here?

Jesus was very clear with His requirements for discipleship, commitment and surrender.

Luke 9:23-25

Jesus said to all of them: If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet loses or forfeits his very self? 

Hebrews 12:1-2

Let us throw off every encumbrance and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with endurance the race set out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus (keep on looking to Him). 

Luke 9:62

Jesus declared: No one who puts his hand to the plow and then looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.

In doing God’s will entails a readiness and willingness to be open to wherever and whenever He leads you to go or do for Him. B.B. McKinney (1886-1952) wrote a very compelling Hymn about commitment and surrender. One stanzas that has always been meaningful and purposeful for me is:

My heart, my life, my all I bring 

To Christ who loves me so.


He is my Master, Lord, and King

Wherever He leads I'll go. 

 Being called to follow Christ and to serve Him faithfully can be challenging and daunting. There will be many unknowns that lurk in the shadow of the culture. There will be discourage-ments and doubts. There will be fears and times when one stumbles. The reality of these factors contributed to Ellen L. Goreh (1883) to pen the words to her hymn: In The Secret of His Presence.  Two stanzas link together and remind one of the faithful presence of The Savior with His own.

When my soul is faint and thirsty,

’neath the shadow of His wing


There is cool and pleasant shelter,

 and a fresh and crystal spring;
And my Savior rests beside me, as we hold communion sweet:


If I tried, I could not utter what He says when thus we meet,

What He says when thus we meet.

Only this I know: I tell Him

all my doubts, my griefs and fears;


Oh, how patiently He listens!

 and my drooping soul He cheers:


Do you think He ne’er reproves me?

What a false Friend He would be,


If He never, never told me of the sins which He must see,


Of the sins which He must see.

    

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     You have been unchained and loosed from bondage. Now, live as one who, in Jesus Christ, is free indeed.