Is Apathy A Growing
Mental Disorder?

Apathy is not having any compassion, interest in others. It is indifference, detachment, hardness, selfishness, aloofness, and unconcern. Being lukewarm, neither hot nor cold...

The city is on fire - "but it's not happening here on the beach!"

Apathy is letting others dig the wells and pipe in water for those in poverty.

Apathy is knowing this is going on in each of our cities, and doing nothing about it!

Why do we get apathetic?

Proverbs 29.7 "Good people care about justice for the poor, but the wicked are not concerned."

If it does not affect us directly, there is no interest.

Selfishness is never the answer. Selfishness - is a fantastic way to be miserable!

Ephesians 4.19 "They don’t care anymore about right and wrong and have given themselves over to impure ways. They stop at nothing, being driven by their evil minds and reckless lusts." Sinful living causes apathy... As sin turns the "center stage" spotlight on self - all focus on other's needs and opinions are rejected.

Prosperity can cause apathy

Prosperity causes many to forget GOD. Thinking they do not need Him..."self made" success, they say.

Deuteronomy 6.11-12 "When the Lord your God has brought you into the land he promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and when he has given you great cities full of good things—cities you didn’t build, wells you didn’t dig, and vineyards and olive trees you didn’t plant—and when you have eaten until you can hold no more, then beware lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the land of slavery."

Nehemiah 9.28-31 "But when all was going well, your people turned to sin again, and once more you let their enemies conquer them. Yet whenever your people returned to you and cried to you for help, once more you listened from heaven, and in your wonderful mercy delivered them!

29 You punished them in order to turn them toward your laws; but even though they should have obeyed them, they were proud and wouldn’t listen, and continued to sin.

30 You were patient with them for many years. You sent your prophets to warn them about their sins, but still they wouldn’t listen. So once again you allowed the heathen nations to conquer them.

31 But in your great mercy you did not destroy them completely or abandon them forever. What a gracious and merciful God you are!

• preoccupation with material things
• they get tired of the things they have, because things do not satisfy
• loving this world and its things creates apathy to others

How do we safeguard against apathy?

• Don't oversleep. Proverbs 20.13 "If you love sleep, you will end in poverty. Keep your eyes open, and there will be plenty to eat."
• Get motivated!
• Obey GOD and His word  2 John 1.8 "Watch out, so that you do not lose the prize for which we have been working so hard. Be diligent so that you will receive your full reward."
• Be diligent. Get to work. It is one of the cures for apathy - doing productive work, enthusiastically...
• Know the dangers of apathy

Revelation 3.15-16 " “I know you well—you are neither hot nor cold; I wish you were one or the other! 16 But since you are merely lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth!"

Jeremiah 12.11 " It has been laid waste. Destroyed and empty, it cries with sorrow before Me. The whole land has been laid waste, because no one cares."

Being "luke-warm" leads to destruction, depression, rebellion and disobedience to the will of GOD.

We need a "singleness of heart." Ezekiel 11.19 "And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them. I will take away their stony, stubborn heart and give them a tender, responsive heart."

Some relevant verses...

Proverbs 13.4 "Lazy people want much but get little, while the diligent are prospering."

Proverbs 24.30-31 "I walked by the field of a certain lazy fellow and saw that it was overgrown with thorns; it was covered with weeds, and its walls were broken down."

2 Thessalonians 3.11 "For we hear that there are some which walk among you disorderly, working not at all, but are busybodies.

Jeremiah 7.26 "But they wouldn’t listen to them or even try to hear. They are hard and stubborn and rebellious—worse even than their fathers were."

The Price of Retirement

• Too many plan to retire at the earliest possible moment that they can. Once out of the workforce life changes dramatically. Few are fully prepared for it.
• Motivation to do "things I've wanted to do" and "places I want to see" often becomes less fulfilling than anticipated and opens the door to apathy and family stress.
  
• To some, retirement is the opportunity to "plow in" and help others and to make every moment of every day count. but, to others, it becomes a dangerous cycle of disappointment which affects the mental and physical health.
  

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