INDIFFERENCE – THE SIN OF INDIFFERENCE
Glenice Mills
12th February 2023
Indifference is one of the most dangerous attitudes that can subtly come in, deceive, and derail us from God’s plan and purpose for our lives.
What is the meaning of indifference?
It is a lack of interest, enthusiasm, concern, or sympathy, being detached enough from things, people or experiences to be able to take or leave them.
So let us stop a minute and evaluate where we are at right now. Let’s examine where it operates in our relationships –
With God – we have become stale and ho-hum, no caring one way or the other
With reading the Word – take it or leave it
With what the Lord requires of us – to our calls or something He has required of us that we have not yet done – putting off and procrastinating
Revelation 3:15,16
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.
This was written to the Laodicean church and describes the lukewarm church. Sadly this is the state of the modern Western church. We have settled and become meh, not very enthusiastic or passionate. We have become cold and hard- hearted. Comfort that is aligned with indifference keeps us lukewarm.
How about our other relationships? – Our spouse, family, children, parents
How about our church family? – Friends, leadership, those we haven’t taken the time to get to know or form a relationship with
Have we become indifferent to an issue that we were once passionate about? To remain silent and indifferent is a sin when it does not matter one way or another. We become insensitive, numb to the cause, accepting the status quo without any fight or zeal to make something right again.
Zechariah 7-13
Thus says the Lord of hosts:
‘Execute true justice,
Show mercy and compassion
Everyone to his brother.
Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless
The alien or the poor.
Let none of you plan evil in his heart
Against his brother.’
But they refused to heed, shrugged their shoulders, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear.
Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts.
Therefore it happened, that just as He proclaimed and they would not hear, so they called out and I would not listen,’ says the Lord of hosts.
This Scripture aptly describes indifference – a shrug of the shoulder and a ‘not my problem’ attitude. We see God was not pleased.
Do you know the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference?
Indifference is not a matter of laziness but rather giving attention to the wrong things. It is becoming busy and paying attention to the wrong things.
So what does indifference look like in our day-to-day lives?
- We become self-focused – without consideration of another
- We lack spiritual passion and resist those who are powering on in Him.
- We become focused on the past and resentful of the future.
- Indifference gets you nowhere – you don’t move, staying in the same place
- We can make light of so many things happening around us and get caught up in our daily routine, and for some a daily grind. We are like the rat on a wheel, going around and around getting nowhere. We become indifferent to our circumstances, accepting them as this is what my life is and nothing is going to change. It is defeatist, without vision or hope. It is living a lesser life – not one that the Lord has for you. It is about choices.
- There is no personal growth – ho-hum, just going through the motions carrying on in the same old, same old.
- It is easy to stand for nothing, but fall for everything.
- There is no emotional investment.
- The most concerning is that indifference leaves you completely vulnerable to deception – self-deception
Complacency is the final axe leading to deception.
Zephaniah 1:12
“And it shall come to pass at that time
That I will search Jerusalem with lamps,
And punish the men
Who are settled in complacency,
Who say in their heart
‘The Lord will not do good,
Nor will He do evil.’
Acts 28:27
‘For the hearts of this people have grown dull,
Their ears are hard of hearing,
And their eyes they have closed,
Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears,
Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn,
So that I should heal them.’
The good news is we do not have to stay in this place of indifference. The Lord is here to bring His breakthrough and deliverance to us here right now and bring change in the realm over this region.
Unity is one of the headlines for this day and for true unity to come we must examine indifference and where it has had its way in our lives.
How can we overcome indifference?
- It takes courage to acknowledge where it is operating in our lives, in our relationships with both God and with others.
- A heart of gratitude will disarm and dismantle the walls of indifference.
- An increase in commitment to bring about the necessary changes.
- Repentance where indifference has crept into our lives and relationships, and where we have become stuck in the same old, same old.
Let us recognize and overcome indifference and choose to come together, with the walls of judgment pulled down so we can rise up, take our place and become proactive in what we are called to do here in this region.
Philippians 4:8
Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy – meditate on these things.
