There is no indication, anywhere, that either personal or communal apathy is even close to acceptable. In fact, apathy with the Bible is what we are supposed to be on the lookout for! We mustn’t miss this central tenet of our calling as Christian people (Heb. 3:13; 5:11-14).

If you are involved in a local church and have attempted to encourage others in their walk with Christ then you have probably said or heard the following countless times:

“I need to get back in the Word.”

“My prayer life has been kinda dry lately.”

How do you respond?

It’s a common reflex for us to reply with the super-spiritual, muppet-faced grimacing sigh: “Hmm. Hmm. I will pray for you that God would help you to be more faithful in prayer.”

But, is this most helpful?

Let’s put the response to the test. Try it out with other things that God says not to do or to do.

In the context of a small group,

Bob discloses, “I’ve had a hard time staying sober lately”

Response: “Hmmm. I will pray for you that God would help keep you sober.”

Sally says, “I haven’t been paying for my cosmetics lately. I’ve been struggling with theft.”

Response: “Hmmm. I will pray for you that God would help you to pay for your stuff.”

Fred says, “I’ve been smoking a lot of meth lately.”

Response: “Hmmm. I will pray for you that God would help you to not be a junkie.”

This is unacceptable, and we all know it. We would be quite right to urgently and lovingly admonish our drunk, thieving, drug-using brothers and sisters. However, with spiritual disciplines, we somehow just accept that we will be unfaithful. Why is this? How has apathy in the Christian life has become so common for contemporary evangelicals.

Has mediocrity become the new normal? And, if so, are we then aiding and abetting apathy?

We must remember that this perspective is entirely foreign to the Bible. There is no indication, anywhere, that either personal or communal apathy is even close to acceptable. In fact, apathy with the Bible is what we are supposed to be on the lookout for! We mustn’t miss this central tenet of our calling as Christian people (Heb. 3:13; 5:11-14).

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