APATHY: HALF-HEARTED: WHAT DO I DO TO CHANGE….
By Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
AGREE OR DISAGREE: ONLY I CAN CHANGE MY LIFE. NO ONE ELSE CAN DO IT FOR ME?
We recently discussed PURPOSE. Who designs your life plan? You can never accomplish what you fail to have a vision to accept. An old teacher named Edith Walton told me when I started teaching: DO YOUR BEST AND FORGET THE REST. GET REAL: A GOOD LIFE IS ABOUT GOOD EFFORT. You make the decision of YOUR PRIORITIES and how much you are willing to pay to IMPROVE YOUR SPIRITUAL DEBT TO GOD.
YOU MAKE THE CHOICE OF GOOD, BETTER OR BEST. I have an old friend that says: I TRY TO BE GOODER TODAY THAN I WAS YESTERDAY. Be honest: WHAT KIND OF EFFORT ARE YOU GIVING? We face great danger when we get GOOD AT OFFERING EXCUSES of forever staying the same.
*APATHY: lack of interest, lacking enthusiasm, little concern, no motivation, lacking desire.
DIVINE TIMING?
In the mid 70’s I traveled playing southern gospel music. We traveled many miles to West Virginia for Friday, Saturday and Sunday services. We had a great weekend but we were tired from all the travel. Let me show my immaturity. On Sunday morning we played at 2 services. Everyone bragged over and over about the lead guitar player’s picking. Not one person bragged about my bass picking. Don’t they know the bass is the foundation of the music? We traveled 10 hours and got home late at night. I never said a word, but I simmered until I was well done. I got off the bus in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee and my wife picked me up. I loaded my Fender Bass in the VW Beetle and drove the 20 miles home. I was fuming. No one bragged on my picking. I told my wife when we got home I was going to splinter that bass on a fence post. I quit. She never said a word. As I was pulling in the driveway, Linda said: HONEY YOU CANNOT DESTROY THE BASS! I said why? She said you still owe a thousand dollars on it. Good answer. WHO ARE YOU PICKING FOR?
I was taking an art appreciation class at LMU. One of the requirements was we had to spend time in the library to listen to great masterpieces. One of the masters was LUCIANO PAVAROTTI, a world class tenor singer. As I was looking up the material I RAN ACROSS THE ALBUM “THE UNASHAMED ACCOMPANIST”… He was called a music artist, GERALD MOORE. MOORE’S name was never greatly known. He played classical piano for many of the world’s greatest opera singers. PAVAROTTI’s sound would have never been world class without the piano player named MOORE. He was the UNASHAMED ACCOMPANIST.
I was at practice that week and traveled years playing the bass… for I learned I too was an UNASHAMED ACCOMPANIST. Thank you God for helping me grow up.
APATHY GROWS FROM THE HEART OF BITTER HURT PEOPLE.
Proverbs 29:18 Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
Many people believe God’s plan is like a Whopper at Burger King… HAVE IT YOUR WAY? Your purpose, God’s plan is that our priority system and guidance will seek God’s direction. Can we see what God is trying to do? Quit falling for the lie that life is about me. I just want to be happy? We need a DIVINE REVELATION THAT APATHY AND HALF-HEARTEDNESS SPIRITUAL LIVING WILL COST DEARLY. DANGER!
Revelation 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
LIVING WITH A HALF-HEARTED, NO EFFORT, NO CONCERN, NO MOTIVATION, NO EFFORT, NO ENERGY CAN COST MORE THAN YOU DESIRE TO PAY. LIFE SHOULD COME WITH A WINNING SPIRIT AND A WINNING MENTALITY.
Numbers 32:11 Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me:
If you do what you do as a chore and labor each day can become bitterness and hollowness. Do we honestly love what we are doing? Do we enjoy straddling the fence? Are we approaching life at 100%?
*Half-hearted: NO REAL EFFORT, NO INTEREST, NO DETERMINATION, having little to no excitement, without enthusiasm or energy, indifferent, apathetic, NO ONE CARES. To do daily menial chores without any effort, interest, or enthusiasm. It is lacking in heart, no spirit
JEHOAHAZ (ja-HO –a- haz) THE HALF-HEARTED KING… WE KNOW THE OLDER PREACHER HAS LIVED A VICTORIOUS LIFE. ONE OF THE KING’S ADVISORS RECOMMENDED JOASH SPEND SOMETIME WITH THE DYING PREACHER… ELISHA…
THE HALF-HEARTED JEHOAHAZ DOES NOT REALLY LIKE THIS OLD MAN AND HIS TEACHINGS. This old preacher is senile and he is crazy, you know he has a loss of his mental faculties… I don’t have to listen to him? He has dementia.
2 Kings 13:15 And Elisha said unto him, Take bow and arrows. And he took unto him bow and arrows.
Did you hear what that senile preacher told me? He is crazy. Elisha put his hand on my bow and arrow. Does he know I am the King? The King could have experienced the ANOINTING OF GOD! No, the King has no desire to listen to the senile preacher.
2 Kings 13:16 And he said to the king of Israel, Put thine hand upon the bow. And he put his hand upon it: and Elisha put his hands upon the king's hands.
JEHOAHAZ is not interested or motivated to hear the senile preacher’s craziness. The Preacher wants me to open the window? Now he says shoot an arrow out his window in this big city? Senile?
2 Kings 13:17 And he said, Open the window eastward. And he opened it. Then Elisha said, Shoot. And he shot. And he said, The arrow of the LORD'S deliverance, and the arrow of deliverance from Syria: for thou shalt smite the Syrians in Aphek, till thou have consumed them.
The half-hearted King with all his apathy and lack of energy does not get it. His lack of enthusiasm and zeal in obedience will cost him dearly in his 3 month reign. They will never taste anything but a temporary victory.
2 Kings 13:18 And he said, Take the arrows. And he took them. And he said unto the king of Israel, Smite upon the ground. And he smote thrice, and stayed.
ELISHA WAS GOD’S MAN, WITH GOD’S PLAN. GOD’S PLAN WAS A WHOLE-HEARTED OBEDIENCE OF ZEAL AND ENTHUSIASM. THE WAY YOU APPROACH GOD’S WORK AND WORD WILL REVEAL IF YOU ARE LAZY, APATHETIC. NO EFFORT AND NO ZEAL MAY SEEM LIKE NOTHING TO YOU. THE PREACHER KNOWS WHAT IS AT STAKE HERE.
2 Kings 13:19 And the man of God was wroth with him, and said, Thou shouldest have smitten five or six times; then hadst thou smitten Syria till thou hadst consumed it: whereas now thou shalt smite Syria but thrice.
HOW MUCH DID THIS HALF-HEARTED, APATHETIC ACTION COST? TODAY, 2021 SYRIA IS STILL A THORN AND ENEMY OF ISRAEL. Generations have paid for your APATHY and HALF-HEARTEDNESS…
WE RECENTLY LOOKED AT PURPOSE AND PURPOSELESSNESS… WHAT IS GOD TRYING TO TEACH US?
James 5:16 ( Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
Do we know the great I AM? All we have is God? Everything we have trusted in is fading and will soon be gone. Everything you have leaned on has collapsed. The USA is failing? How are the mighty fallen? Life as we have known it cannot maintain itself at the rate we are travelling. All we know is God and his word. All our hope, all we can see is God by faith… All we can understand is God… IF GOD DOESN’T DO IT WE ARE HOPELESS. THE GREAT “I AM” that appeared to Noah when the rain started… Moses in the desert… To Daniel and the lions’ den… To the widow with the empty barrel… BUT GOD! GOD CAN! LIFT UP YOUR HEAD--- REDEMPTION DRAWS NIGH. GET EXCITED FOR LIFE.
CONCLUSION: LIFE MAYBE 10% OF WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU --- AND 90% OF HOW YOU REACT TO WHAT HAPPENS TO YOU.
**WHOLE -HEARTED: full of energy, committed, great effort, zealous, eager, excited and fervent.
A WINNING ATTITUDE KNOWS TRIALS, PROBLEMS AND PAIN ARE NOT STOP SIGNS. To know better is never enough, we must begin and walk in faith. DO WHAT YOU CAN. WHERE YOU CAN. WHEN YOU CAN. You have to begin where you are. You have to use what you have right now. COULD YOU BE BETTER THAN YOU ARE RIGHT NOW? We play the HALF-HEARTEDNESS, procrastination game saying I will improve starting tomorrow. I have heard: WHERE THERE IS A WILL THERE IS A WAY… MAYBE THERE IS NO WILL? Maybe you will find a way? Maybe you will have to make a way… Real change will occur when we acknowledge I have a problem and me and Jesus can correct this with a whole heart.
His servant, Wade Martin Hughes, Sr. Kyfingers@aol.com
Do you need to evaluate your zeal?
