In a small book of Obadiah, verse eleven, God pronounces doom against Edom. These people were descendants of Esau. He and his brother Jacob were at odds with each other over birthright issues. However, they ultimately reconciled. Then years later because of their pride, Edom violated the bond between the brothers. They stood aside allowing the Jews to experience war, murder, and plundering while they did nothing. The small book charges that these neutral Edomites were in effect accomplices to the crimes without coming to the aid of the Jews. In our modern day, it would be wise for us to learn a lesson from this text so that we might consider the effects of the sin of apathy.
Apathy is a perpetual thing. It creates an atmosphere of passivity and unconcerned attitudes toward those that God would expect us to come alongside. It never fulfills obligations. It ignores the divine commission to go into the fields of work. Instead of the apathetic person being a warrior, they transition into being cowards. To such people it’s a matter of convenience or a self-serving position. As a result, it manufactures criticism and burden for other people while aggravating old wounds that were never really allowed to heal completely.
To learn a lesson from this Scripture text we must first admit that apathy is a sinful thing. In fact, in many cases, it’s the most practiced sin of people that leads to God’s requirements being unmapped. It places the apathetic person in opposition to God and his program. What ignored requirements or needs that people have results in the joy of worship and inspiration to be missed. It stymies spiritual development. It defames the methods of evangelism as Jesus described them.
You might ask how such a Scripture that was written nearly 3000 years ago has any effect on us today. The details of Edom being at opposition to the Jews is a foreshadow of what is happening in the Middle East today. Bringing the concerns closer to home, the work of the church is diminished and cannot be truly accomplished if the people in the congregation are apathetic. If the people are willing to ride down the stream without a paddle, without a purpose, without a plan, and without a response to God’s instructions, that church will eventually die. Even more so personally, apathy is a means by which spiritual growth and stability is delegated to nothingness. We must shore up who we are, what God expects of us. We must be willing to step up to the line so that we might be the people God wants us for his use.
Christian Writer 