Apathy

As a youth pastor there aren’t many things in my role that frustrate me more than apathy. As a person who has a strong desire to see people encounter the love of Christ it is frustrating to see a student deny what could change their life for the better not because they have decided against it but simply because they don’t care. Unfortunately I have a confession to make: I’m a hypocrite. I have struggled with apathy in a variety of areas in my life. I know what has motivated the apathy in my life its one part selfishness and another part fear. I have found apathy to be an excellent way to avoid conflict or difficult conversation. Apathy for me has come in the form of not caring enough to stick up for the things I believe in. It has also come in the form of a lack of commitment. For years I would publicly avoid sharing my frustrations on hot button issues like homosexuality, abortion, divorce and many others simply because I was selfish and thought to myself: “I don’t struggle with any of these things so why share my opinion?” Also I saw many other Christians make an attempt to wrestle with these topics and they come across bigoted or hateful. I used these two reasons as excuses instead of standing up for what I believe in. Now I’m not asking us to come across bigoted or rude but we as Christians are allowed to have an opinion. And for those who don’t agree with me: Just because we don’t agree doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. It is ok for me to have a different opinion than you. I’m sick of this pressure in our society to be tolerant and open to everyone except those who have a different opinion than the majority. I have seen many of my friends who have shared an opinion and been trashed for it. In Canada don’t we have freedom of speech and religious freedom? On that note I would like to share a video from a pastor who speaks on abortion. Matt Chandler is very powerful and almost angry sounding but he is honest. Here is an excerpt form his sermon on the sanctity of human life: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=absW29h8KGA and of course for the sake of context: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB1wWfZOVHw