The sin of passivity

“I’m so weary of it all, I just don’t care,” she sighed. The woman was really tired. Kids, job, home had each brought demands to her life. Now, the struggle with temptation was piling on, too, and she was ready to cave in, give up, go with the flow. Could I fault her decision? Naturally, no; spiritually, yes! Passivity is a kind of sin. If we just ‘give up,’ the results are never good. The Bible warns about deadly ‘drift’ that carries us from the Way.

Paul wrote to his ‘son’ in the Lord, Timothy, to urge him not to settle for a passive, tepid faith. Reading his letters, we can discern that Timothy was by nature a timid man and weakened by physical problems. He was a prime candidate for passivity, just letting life happen. So, his ‘father’ writes "But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses." (1 Timothy 6:11-12, NIV)

Let me offer an interpretation of that passage: “Man up, Tim! Turn and run TO the things of God! Run hard for the finish line! Tighten your grip on things that really matter.”

Disciple, I urge that same choice for you today. Make choices! There are situations from which we need to flee, temptations that need to be left behind, cut off without recourse. Even more importantly, we need to renew our pursuit of God. Nobody drifts effortlessly into a holy life. Christ’s rule in this world, the defeat of those who are evil-doers, never happens just because we hope for it, dream about it, or talk about it in committee. Significantly, when Paul urges Timothy to ‘fight the good fight,’ he is not speaking in a military metaphor. Rather, he is using a term for an athletic contest! “Get in the race and run hard!” is more the intent of his encouragement.

I know what weary means. Even as write this to encourage you, I am soul weary. I am tempted to ask for an easier place, to shrug off responsibilities to the shoulders of another, to refuse to see places of service. The devil whispers in my ear of the futility of life urging me to just let it go. Is he whispering to you, too? Entire days can be lost if we allow ourselves to sleepwalk through life, with eyes open but unseeing! The world offers a thousand diversions that, like a narcotic, numb us to the reality that demands our engagement. We can forget life as we live vicariously through the TV stories. We can feel a kind of temporary satisfaction when we seek yet another novel food or experience that stills the cry of soul, our true need for God.

If we belong to Christ, our identity is “Man of God!” Knowing who we are, we then turn our back on the world’s offers and “flee all this!” as the Spirit calls to us. We do not just run off in aimless chasing! We run to a life dedicated to right living, full of faith, loving, and patiently enduring difficulty.
Here’s a word from the Word. May He speak it often to us today. "I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." (2 Timothy 1:6-7, NIV)

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A charge to keep I have,
A God to glorify,
A never dying soul to save,
And fit it for the sky.

To serve the present age,
My calling to fulfill;
O may it all my powr's engage
To do my Master's will!

A Charge To Keep I Have
Wesley, Charles / Mason, Lowell

© Public Domain