No Apathy with God

“For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. 5 The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.” ESV Psalm 5:4-5

Apathetic: If you look the word up in the dictionary you’ll see that it means to be indifferent or without concern about a matter. For instance, many folks outside of our beloved state are apathetic when it comes to college football; they could care less who wins or looses each Saturday on the gridiron.

OK, maybe that example is a little hard to imagine. Let’s try again. Suppose that your neighbor is cheating on his taxes. Do you care or are you really sort of indifferent about it? I suspect that many would argue that an issue such as taxes would be between the neighbor and Uncle Sam; certainly no business of theirs to be concerned with.

But what if the same neighbor runs the corner business that you frequent and you get shorted in a transaction? Would it change your feelings towards the indiscretion? Would you continue to be apathetic? No, apathy ends when the indiscretion gets personal. Personal indiscretions garner an entirely different response from most of us than impersonal ones don’t they?

I fear that apathy is rampant in our society. Let’s face it, as a society we are pretty apathetic, even calloused on occasion, when we are not personally attached to an event. Sadder still, apathy has even invaded the church to a large extent. How often, even in the Church, have we ‘winked’ at sinful behavior and looked the other way because it didn’t involve us personally? Too often I’d argue, but I’ll save those thoughts for another day.

Today, let’s look only at God’s attitude towards indiscretion; God’s attitude towards sin. Does God wink at sin? Does God consider any sin ‘none of his business?’ No, the Psalmist tells us plainly that evil does not dwell with God and that sin brings God no pleasure. God hates sin. God is never apathetic towards sin. When you give it just a little thought, you’ll have to agree that with God, ALL sin is personal.

The Psalmist takes the issue of sin even further and makes it personal. Have you read the text carefully? Notice that God hates not just sin, but “all evildoers” as well. Pick your translation; that is what it says. Ouch! Many will no doubt find the thought of God hating evil doers as repugnant, but it will still be true. And one day God will pour out His wrath against sin and sinners.

But God, in His love, has also provided a way by which sinners can be reconciled to Him and avoid His wrath. The way is singular. There are not multiple ways to be reconciled. The way of reconciliation is belief in Jesus Christ. That is the good news; the gospel.

Drew Jones has written a short song (The Gospel Song) that has captivated me of late. It goes like this: “Holy God, in love became -- perfect Man to bear my blame. On the cross He took my sin. By His death I live again.”

God is not neutral. God is not apathetic towards sin or sinners. Every sin is personal to God. Make the good news personal; be reconciled today.