Indifference The Great Destroyer Indifference is one of the scariest words in the English language for it is a word whose

e companion is another word called failure. The word indifference refers to an attitude held by a man or woman indicating a lack of zeal or commitment or concern regarding whatever that person is indifferent toward. There are many things a person can be indifferent toward and it does not make the least bit of difference. For example, I am indifferent toward what car you drive. Any make or model or year makes no difference to me. I just don't care. My indifference in that matter hurts neither me nor you nor anyone else. However, what if you drive that car we were just talking about while drunk? Would I then be indifferent? Not toward your driving I wouldn't be. What if you have a child who is indifferent toward school and getting a good education? Would that concern you? Would you be indifferent toward that? Even more so what if you have a son or daughter, a husband or wife, a mother or father, a brother or sister, or a close friend who is indifferent toward God and his word and thus toward their soul's salvation, what then? What then indeed and that is what makes the word "indifferent" such a fearful word? If God and his word are matters of no serious concern to me, if God is only going to make my top 100 list of most important things to me in my life, if he gets that high, then realistically what kind of hope do I have of salvation? To be indifferent is to not care. If you do not care about God, about his will, about going to heaven, if you are disinterested in living a faithful Christian life what joy do you bring to God? Grief and sorrow yes but joy no. A lot has been made of the fact that salvation from sin is a free gift from God. This while true when properly understood is seldom understood properly because seldom taught properly. Men have gotten it into their heads that their soul's salvation is solely dependent on God. No need to seek God, from their point of few, despite the fact he says in his word, "He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him," (Heb. 11:6 NKJV) the very thing the indifferent will not do. No need to study the Bible. God is love. God is grace. God is going to save everyone no matter what he or she believes or practices just as long as he believes that Jesus is the Son of God and Savior of the world and that in the most abstract sort of way. Attend services wherever you so desire, no matter what they teach or practice, or don't even attend anywhere if you don't want to. It will make no difference just so you believe in Jesus. That is generally the Christian (?) world we live in here in America today. False teaching along this line has led to a lot of the indifference we see in religion today, not all of it for there are other contributing factors as well but a lot of it. Indifference is one natural byproduct of denominationalism. If it really does not matter what you believe or practice just so you believe in Jesus then certainly one can be indifferent about both doctrine and practice. What difference does it make if we are all going to be saved anyway? I thus see people who think they are going to be saved who never darken a church door for a worship service. If they have a Bible they would have

to hunt it before they could read it and then dust it off for it has set that long unread and unused. They virtually never read it. The scariest thing for me when it comes to one's loved ones having indifference towards God and salvation, toward spiritual matters, is that indifference is one of those types of sins that is nearly impossible to get people to see in their own lives and thus to own up to and repent of. They do not see themselves as being indifferent but are satisfied they are doing all that is necessary for salvation (even though it is nothing) and will be saved as they are. Nothing is necessary for God will take care of it all. Somehow they think everything is just going to work out for their salvation. I said earlier that indifference has a companion called failure but indifference also has another companion called satisfied. Satisfied does not repent. Satisfied does not seek, knock, or search in any way for anything other than what satisfied already has for satisfied is satisfied. It becomes, a result of that, nearly impossible to get people who fit into that state of mind to a state of repentance. They are not interested in studying or searching the scriptures for they are indifferent and content. What does the Bible say or teach on this subject? That is our concern or ought to be for no matter what you or I think about the matter it is what God thinks that counts. It is time to turn to the scriptures. One of the first passages that comes to mind is Rev. 3:15-16 where Jesus is directing a message to the members of the church at Laodicea and says this, "I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth." (Rev. 3:15-16 NKJV) Jesus is talking to Christians here. Does it sound like they are in a saved state? What do you think? If you will read one verse further (verse 17) Jesus goes on explaining, "Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.'" (Rev. 3:17 NKJV) They were perfectly satisfied. Please note carefully the words from this passage, "have need of nothing" expressing their satisfaction. If lukewarmness is one step above indifference, if it is, and this is what Jesus thinks about the lukewarm what do you suppose he thinks about the indifferent? But there are many other passages. One such passage is Luke 10:25-28: "And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, 'Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?' He said to him, 'What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?' So he answered and said, ' ''YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND,' and 'YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' ' And He said to him, 'You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.' " (NKJV)

The law that was being lived under at the time of this exchange was the Law of Moses but I have never known or heard of a man who believed that he could go to heaven without loving God in our own dispensation under the law of Christ. But how does one love God who is indifferent to reading and studying God's word, indifferent to worship, indifferent to learning truth from error, indifferent to living the Christian life? Along the same line of thought Jesus said, "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me." (Matt. 10:37 NKJV) Is love indifferent? Is love uncommitted? Do the indifferent toward God, his word and his will, love Jesus more than mother or father, son or daughter? Are such worthy of eternal life with Jesus? What did Jesus say? In another statement Jesus said, "Whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple." (Luke 14:27 NKJV) What kind of cross does the indifferent person bear for Christ? Can such a person be a disciple of Jesus? What does the text say? Read it again. The indifferent individual is an individual that is left out in the cold and it is his own fault. That said, and the Bible being true, the cold will in due time turn to heat unless the person breaks the shackles of his/her indifference. In the Old Testament God said, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." (Hosea 4:6 NKJV) If it happened to them could it not happen to people today? The indifferent cannot gain knowledge of God for the attitude of indifference creates no desire to seek and learn. Mr. Indifference is also Mr. Satisfied with the way things are and what little knowledge he already has. Jesus said, "seek, and you will find," (Matt. 7:7 NKJV) but one's indifference keeps him from seeking and thus from finding. We are to "seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness" (Matt. 6:33 NKJV) but the indifferent have no will to seek. The Bible teaches the love of God or put another way, love for God, is keeping his commandments. "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments." (1 John 5:3 NKJV) Jesus said, "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me." (John 14:21 NKJV) "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word." (John 14:23 NKJV) "He who does not love Me does not keep My words." (John 14:24 NKJV) The indifferent cannot do that. Why? Because he/she is too indifferent to read, study, and learn the word that Jesus would have them keep. They are satisfied with what they have. They will never wear a Bible out from use. If they have one it will be in nearly as good a shape 5 years from now as it is today. They do not know the truth from study of the truth. What they know is only what they have heard which may or may not be the truth and what they believe is that which has satisfied them whether it be truth or error (they know not the difference). The sad truth is many are going to die eternally simply because they did not care enough to be saved. When you stop to think about it Jesus taught a great deal on the idea of being ready, of making preparation, for his return and the Day of Judgment. The parable of the ten virgins comes immediately to mind. Another passage that comes to mind is found in Matt. 22:11, the account of the man who came into the wedding

unprepared and as a result was cast out. The latter part of Mark 13 is another warning to be prepared the warning being to "Watch!" (Mark 13:37 NKJV) No doubt this list could be extended as regards Bible teaching on the subject. But the point is the indifferent, due to that indifference, are negligent and do not prepare and consequently unless they can be brought to a change of heart cannot be saved. They live in a continual state of unpreparedness. Indifference is a symptom of a spiritually diseased heart. The heart is not where it ought to be being concentrated on self and this world. It is full of pride; I'm okay; I don't need any more religion than I have. It is presumptuous and assumes (God will save me as I am). It is rebellious against God (we will do it my way). The question becomes, for those of us who care about people we fear may be in this state, is what can we do about it? Here I must stop. I cannot write any more for how does one answer this question? If a person is indifferent, satisfied, does not care, then how do you get them to care? This is why this is one of the most fearful sins a person will ever run up against. How do you get a person to care that does not care? How do you move a satisfied person into a state of dissatisfaction where he can repent if he is not concerned enough to study God's word or consider your efforts to help him? If a person has committed a sexually immoral sin or sins of many other kinds (sinful acts versus sinful attitudes) he/she probably knows what they did was wrong and feels some pang of guilt. There is hope there. You can get a person like that to repent but how do you get the indifferent, those who do not care, to repent? It is your turn now to write the next article and tell me the answer.