The Danger of Apathy: It Wants To Ruin You

Before I met God, my relationship with him was so bland, despite the fact that I was the perfect picture of what a Christian child should look like. My dad was a pastor, and I was the second youngest in our large family. “The angel of the family” was how I jokingly referred to myself, because I was very obedient. 

I was the first one to quote a scripture at the right time, smile or say something kind to someone sad, and— to most people’s chagrin— make sure everyone followed the rules completely (in fact, to this day, I’m still a stickler for rules). 

But my personal relationship with God felt dry and lifeless. I’d show up to church each Sunday with my family, read my Bible on occasion, and pray when I was supposed to— but all I was doing was going through the motions. 

I felt like this was as good as my relationship with God was going to get. I didn’t think I’d get any closer to Him, or maybe, if I did, it’d be some time off in the future, but certainly not right now. Praying and reading my Bible are just boring, I thought, and there’s not much more to Christianity than not doing bad things and getting to heaven. 

I couldn’t have been any more wrong.  

When I was 12 years old, I had my first real encounter with God. Nothing weird or creepy, just a pure, raw awareness of His Spirit and His love for me. I talked about that experience in this blog post.

From that point on, I learned something incredible: God cares about me as an individual and He wants to change my life for the better.

A few months later, I again felt the presence of God so strongly when I was praying in our barn loft, and that experience was also life changing. 

I met God for who He really is. 

Acts 2:43 says that the believers were continually feeling a sense of awe. Why? Because God kept working, and they kept seeing His amazing power at work. 

I’d let myself believe the lie that when you’ve seen it once you’ve seen it all. I thought that God was essentially done working, done doing miracles, and no longer being who we see Him to be all through Scripture.

I thought that since we were living in a life and era so different from those in Scriptures that God was somehow different for us. 

News flash: that’s a lie.

If Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (which He is, according to Hebrews 13:8), and if He is the exact representation of the Father (which He also is, per Hebrews 1:3), who are we to think that God is any different to us than He was to those in the Bible?

God didn’t stop moving, surprising, and amazing the believers in the book of Acts when the Church was launched. He wants to move, surprise, and amaze us too. 

Ephesians 3:20 says, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,”

It is so important to not become apathetic in your relationship with God. 

Don’t believe the lie that says what you have now is what you’ll always have. God is so much bigger than you or I could ever understand or even imagine.

God wants to do amazing things for you, so don’t get comfortable with where you are now. Continue having an open mind to what He wants to show you. Keep searching, praying, and seeking God. He’ll work miracles in your life if only you’ll keep following Him!