I. DON’T.
CARE!
Those may
be the words of an unhappy, rebellious teenager who has had it up to her ears
with her parents. Or, it could be the
words of frustration of a husband and wife as they struggle with their
marriage. Or, it could be the words of a
disgruntled employee fed up with the dysfunction he finds at his
workplace. Or, it could be the words of
someone coming to the end of her life, tired of fighting and ready to go
home. Or, it could be the words of a
follower of Jesus, reflecting his frustration with the messed up world we live
in and the messed up church he goes to.
But, one thing we can be sure of,
they were never the words of Jesus.
Reading
about Jesus’ actions and paying attention to his words will convince you that
Jesus cared for people. And his heart
reflected the heart of his heavenly Father.
One of the most succinct expressions of this is found at the beginning
of the familiar sixteenth verse of John – “For
God so loved the world that he gave…”
To
understand more deeply what it means to care, it can be helpful to look at its
opposite. The opposite of caring is
indifference. When caring ceases, death
begins. When a couple stops caring for
each other’s needs, wants, dreams, hopes, hurts and joys the relationship
begins to die. When a child stops caring
about what his parents think and say, the relationship begins to die. When we stop caring about the success of our
employer, we are just putting in time and living a passionless existence. When we stop caring about our church, we
become just another consumer of spiritual goods, only concerned about what we
want. When we stop caring about the
hurting, those far away from God, injustice and evil it reveals a terminal
illness in our soul.
Jesus said
he came to give those who followed him a life that was abundant, overflowing,
irrepressible. You can’t have that kind
of life in you and not care at the same time.
How much we care is the thermometer of our soul. If you have stopped caring you should be
very, very concerned.
How much a
church cares is also the thermometer of its soul. When a church (and be clear on this – by
“church” I mean the people who make up the gathered people who go by a certain
name, not a building) stops caring for its community and its world, it is
dying. When a church stops sacrificially
caring for its children and youth – the people who are most vulnerable and who
are most accessible to us – it becomes a question of not “if” but “when” they
will lose their voice and vitality.
So, let me
ask you some honest, important questions:
What have you stopped caring about?
What has begun to die in your soul?
Do you care?
Jesus cares
about you and your soul. He died to
bring it back to life and he is able.
The first step is to confess your soul is dying. Second, repent – admit it is wrong and you
are broken. Third, submit it to Jesus –
give it to him. Fourth, be willing to be
changed by the spirit of grace. Fifth,
ask Jesus to change your heart. Yep, it
is that hard. But with God, all things
are possible.
Peace and grace,
David Cooke
