“The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of art is not ugliness, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference.” Elie Wiesel, author,
How precise this quote is. How relevant it is today. For us, in the 21st century, whose lives are channeled by social media, television, fantasy games and more, we have become a people who could not care less about anything except what affects our immediate need or circumstance. Our humanity is being drained, our sense of self has become convoluted into a mixture of reality, science fiction and self delusion.
In the book of Revelation, there were seven ekklesias in Asia that Christ addressed specifically. Of these, two of them had no condemnation. The persecuted ekklesia at Smyrna and the ekklesia at Philadelphia. But, Christ had this to say to the ekklesia at Laodicea:
Rev 3:15-21 (NKJV)- 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. Because you say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked— I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.
Neither hot nor cold speaks of indifference. Not caring about anything outside our own selfish desires and needs. Because of indifference, Christ wants to vomit. He wishes this ekklesia will have some passion, some fervency. Instead, they care about their riches, their wealth, their sense of luxury having need of nothing. Christ admonishes the Laodiceans, that in spite of the sense of self, sense of satisfaction, their full bellies, that in reality they are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked! This must have come as a shock to them.
Be zealous and repent!
The rebuke touches me because I have been indifferent. I have clothed myself with indifference like a garment to protect myself against the pain of a culture intoxicated with excess.
Many times, if we do not play by the rules, we become outcasts. It starts from a very young age. The schools try to categorize you into the various buckets based on your ability to fit into a “one size fit all” curriculum. And once you do not fit in, the shaming begins and continues into adulthood. So, many times, people put on a garment of indifference to dull the senses and the pain. It affects our entire lives. It seems as if we have a generation of people who have covered themselves in the garments of indifference to hide away things that may cast light on our weakness, our frailty, our humanity. We encase ourselves in a bubble. But the problem with this is that God understands our weakness. When we are weak, He is strong in us. When we hide behind masks of indifference, pretty soon, the masks becomes our personality. Remember Jim Carrey’s movie .”The Mask”?
But we must become fervent again. Put aside the frailities and our egg shells and launch out into the deep. We cannot love if we are afraid of being hurt. We cannot succeed if we are not passionate. Where has our passion for God gone? How long will we continue to live in a bubble of pretences and fantasy. Sooner or later – whether by God’s hands or by man’s, the bubble will burst and then we find that we are “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked“.
Why don’t we look onto the Lord for help? He counsels us “to buy from [Him] gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.”
Most assuredly, let us begin with those around us. Let us truly love those He brings us into contact with. Not the love that we most likely have been exposed to- where we love ONLY if we are loved. Rather, let us begin again with 1 Cor 13:
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known. And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Love is unconditional. Can we really do it? I bet we can.
CASTIN-GRACE 