Meh.

Complacency and lukewarmness is a battle. Often we don’t even realize we are walking in it. It’s like a slow slide of small compromises. One day you wake up, rub your eyes, and look around in confusion, wondering to yourself, “How on earth did I get here?” The word lukewarm means tepid, indifferent, half-hearted. In the scriptures, we find that God himself was turned off by the idea of something being lukewarm — as if it were coffee that had been sitting on your desk for a while; you pick it up and take a sip, and make that face, then promptly spit it in the trash can. So we all know how it is when we feel indifferent. We can become apathetic about our appearance, our environment, our work habits, or even our relationships. There’s an overarching feeling of disconnect, of lack, of meh-ness — especially in the spiritual part of us, which can be a lack of encounter with the Divine. When we recognize that we are in this place, I suppose you could say that is the first step of getting out of it, because deep down, no one really likes being half-hearted. It just wears on you after a while. You feel dull and uninteresting to yourself, so you imagine how you must come off to other people. For me, there are times when I feel uninspired, uncreative, and unmotivated. It’s easier to scroll social media or binge watch Netflix than to stand up, take stock and say, “I need to change. I need to connect with the Divine because I know that there is So. Much. More.” Living in apathy is living small. You know? There’s this huge and amazing world out there but when you are lukewarm, you look around and are like… meh, whatever. The scriptures talk about the “ones who know their God and do great exploits” (Daniel 11:32). That sounds like a big life. An interesting life. A life with purpose, drive, and passion. 

In a recent talk about lukewarmness, Dave Ramer said, “I want your high moments in life to inform the dry times. This is when you need to be motivated by Christ. Learn to live in a place of walking in faithfulness, staying immovable in your core beliefs despite the highs and lows. This is steadiness. This is spiritually-minded consistency. This is where you stay focused and live above the swirl of emotion and feelings.” We discover and connect with the Divine through purposeful, intentional times of study of scripture, meditation, personal prayer, and worship. Bob calls it “dwelling in the secret place” — that place and time where you draw away from the busyness of life and intentionally seek encounter and connection with the Divine. There is a principle in the Matthew 24 story of being prepared with oil for the nights when it is dark and you need your light to be ready to burn. That’s what it looks like to be steady and ready and not swayed by the fray… you are prepared. You are aware. And the more you spend this time in connection with the scriptures, with the life of Christ, listening for the inner promptings of the Spirit, the more apathy and lukewarmness will be driven away. 

Part of the reason I become apathetic is that I get focused on myself. It’s like my mind-bubble shrinks and all I can see is my own stuff. That can be a tough (and often shallow) season for any of us. Sometimes it truly is a season of wilderness, where I am dry and longing for a cool drink but not finding it. And it is in these seasons that I cling to faith and hope. In his letter to the Romans, St. Paul said, that “God is working all things for our good” (8:28). During these times when I feel apathetic or disconnected, I’m discovering that it’s good to ask myself what I am discovering — about how and what and why I am feeling and thinking. It’s good to name it. To identify it. To ask questions about it. To see the bigger picture behind the thing I think it is. Because when I shake off the apathy and leave it behind, there is a hope that I am more refined, more pure, and I realize that along the journey I have found illumination… a new truth, a new hope, and a greater joy that I have come through the trial stronger, more mature, and ready to move forward. Onward and upward, my friends!