Where do we lose the battle? - Indifference

(continued from - Loss of Wonder)

Being the pastor of a church, gives me the luxury for meeting various types of people every week. Those who are passionate about life and God, those who are new and nervous, those who drag themselves around and then there are those who are simply indifferent.

In my observation, I found it strange that indifferent people are often more knowledgeable. They practically know the Bible inside out. Usually, it would take a week’s time to think through and prepare my forty minute sermon. The pattern of reaction from people after a sermon is almost always same. Passionate people will say, amazing thoughts; others will offer new perspectives, some will suggest preaching techniques and some will walk around as if nothing new has been said. These are the ones I call indifferent.

Try asking them about the sermon, they enter into a discussion that kind of gives us feeling that they already know what was spoken, and they might even add few more details. I call it the ‘I KNOW’ attitude. I often wonder how a person reaches this stage. There is an old aphorism, “Familiarity breeds contempt”; in this case, “familiarity breeds indifference”.

Our desire to learn from some brave act takes a big dent as we become more and more familiar with that event. That is the danger in repetition; it breeds indifference in few people. Once they are familiar with a story and its details, the inclination is to think ‘I Know about it all already’, and every time that story gets repeated we switch off our minds and pay no attention.  

What grows out of this attitude is pride. Though this trait may not be the choice of the person, it is what develops. If someone thinks that he knows it all, then chances are that he is never going learn anything from anyone. Unfortunately some people take that road deliberately or it just grows into them. That leaves them growth-less, fruitless and blind. Pride eats away our desire to learn and grow.

If familiarity gives birth to pride and weakens our desire to learn, then failure can wither our resolution to follow the footsteps of our heroes. Hitting a wall in an endeavor to chase lions can spell death to our resolutions.

We shall discuss…