You're Never Too Far Gone
10:49 AMHeatherApathy is a dangerous thing. Apathy causes a person to not even try, to settle and compromise. It's a convenient excuse for those who choose to ignore God's ways. We see apathy in the most horrible evil men who don't care about people or God or really even what happens to themselves. But, we also see apathy in those who sit in church pews Sunday after Sunday. Apathy causes someone to play the part of a Christian, even with good intentions, but simply unwilling or unsure of how to truly live out their faith in a radical way. Apathy tells you that it's okay to just keep doing what you're doing--it's good enough. And apathy tells you that you've already missed the mark so much, there's nothing you can do. Apathy tells you that you are too far gone anyway. Apathy dulls your mind, your heart, and your conscience--lulling you into a mediocre existence--or worse.
When it comes to apathy, Manasseh is a perfect Biblical example. The king of Israel at age 12, Manasseh allowed apathy to overtake him. 2 Chronicles 33 paints a pretty unflattering picture of this king. It says that he did evil in the eyes of the Lord, following the "detestable" practices of the heathen nations who had driven out Israel. Think about it. Apathy set in, and Manasseh just went with the flow. He followed the culture. He didn't care enough to swim upstream against the society surrounding him. He didn't care enough to follow the God of his fathers. He didn't care to choose differently, to choose well, to choose the narrow path.
Apathy led Manasseh to do the following. He rebuilt the altars for idol worship that is very own God-fearing father, Hezekiah, had demolished. Talk about a rebel. Not only that, he built more altars to more idols. He dared to build altars for idols in the very temple of God. A slippery slope, I'd imagine. First, he loses interest in Godly things. Then, he just naturally follows the crowd. Next, he rebels against the teachings of his dad. And he takes it a step further. Until it leads to this grim description.
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