Daniel SAFARI: Week 8

Exploring Diligence and Conquering Lethargy

Here are our questions for this week:  Define Spiritual Diligence and Spiritual Lethargy. Why do you think we have so many spiritually lethargic people in the church today?  -or- Talk about a time in your life when you found yourself spiritually lethargic. How did you get out of that rut? Discuss.

I could easily discuss both of these, but I'll tackle the first question for $500, HisGirl. 

I think spiritual diligence encompasses the truest form of faith.  It's is a choice to actively seek knowledge and truth in our faith.  We can be diligent through prayer, Bible study, meditation, and discipling (teaching others and having others teach us).  When we are diligent, we are careful--leaving no proverbial stone unturned. Additionally, spiritual diligence is in itself its own safety mechanism against believing what we want to believe, and/or believing 1/2 truths, especially in books like Daniel, which are a bit freaky upon first examination, and can be hard to understand.  Note: partial knowledge is different from a 1/2 truth.  In my opinion, partial knowledge is akin to knowing something about how football is played.  There are downs, a ball, and several people crushing into one another at the blow of a whistl, e.  This will always be true.  A more full knowledge of the game would include knowing the rules about whom to crush, and when to crush them.  However, it would be a 1/2 truth to think that seeing one game or one aspect of the sport makes one an expert.  Spiritual diligence also connotes consistency.  We not only read the Bible, pray, meditate upon His Word, disciple, etc., but we do it all.the.time.  Despite our feelings.  Despite our busyness.  Spiritual diligence, for me, chiefly means obedience. 

On the other hand, spiritual lethargy is the exact opposite.  As I was brushing up on the definition of lethargy, obviously laziness came to mind, and of course drowsy/tiredness.  But one word really spoke to me, and that's:  iRrEGulAr.  It makes sense to me that spiritual lethargy is then the absence of seeking knowledge and truth in God's word and will for us, because we are lazy or burdened, and just don't put the time in to seek, learn, and abide in Him.  But it also means, more personally for me, that even if we do sit down to our quiet times, etc., they are irregular and inconsistent.  Perhaps we are distracted and/or bored.  When I think of the word lethargic, I think that it's opposite must be passionate.  When I am lethargic in any area of my life, I have no passion for that area.  When we are spiritually lethargic, to me, that means the spark or passion has been lessened, or snuffed out altogether.  Instead of obedience, we have avoidance.  And I don't know about you, but when I start avoiding things, especially those which require discipline, I start feeling worse and worse about myself.  And eventually, I get to a "what's the point?" mentality.  This is a perfect foothold for satan.  A foothold I've given him more than once.

So why are there so many spiritually lethargic people in church today?  I think there are many reasons for this, but probably they mostly boil down to this:  d.i.s.t.r.a.c.t.i.o.n..  In this post-modern world, there are so many things competing for our time.  Many of them have not changed from years gone by (jobs, children, chores), but others have.  We are so bombarded by information and are expected to be on call nearly 24/7.  Our quiet time is often fractured, or even edged out.  I'm not even talking about strict Bible study, meditation quiet time. I'm talking about time to.just.think.  So...meanwhile, we go from task to task, like a silver pinball, checking things off our list, and dropping into bed, exhausted, and getting up to repeat the madness.  There's simply no time for God.  We can fit Him in a box on Sunday mornings (if that), but after that, there are other things requiring our attention.  Bills.  Baseball games.  Bible studies.  Hobbies.  Ahem...blogging.  Updating the world on our Twitter/Facebook status.  Important things.  Escaping life thru TV. Reading.  Napping.  You name it.  We are not, as a whole, like Daniel, whose habit it was to stop and pray, nor like David, who meditated on God's word day and night.  I'm saying "we".  I could take more responsibility and say "I".  I think I would be shocked at how much downtime there was in the 1st century.  Seriously.  Even if I were raising my food and making my clothing.  Certainly, if it weren't down time, per se, it'd be quieter, w/o the patter of TV/radio/cell phone noise in the background. 

Why are there so many spiritually lethargic folks at church today?  Because we are not making the daily choice to obey.  To abide.  To seek.  To live.  I think, because life can be so complicated, when it comes to our spiritual life, we want that.one.thing. to be easy.  I'll go to church, and sing and pray and say hi to a few friends, and listen to the message and go home.  And then...because I didn't choose to really feed on the Gospel, I'll feel empty, listless, and I might even blame God for not talking to me.  And then...I'll choose to be farther and farther away... because lazy is easy, and satan makes easy sound so good.

The thing is...we can't let spiritual lethargy win the battle for our hearts and minds.  We have to plunk that cross into the ground and say, "by His blood, I am free to believe".  I'm free to seek.  Free to obey.  Free to glean and learn and teach and pray.  Free to be like Him who loved me.    I'll leave you with some of the scripture that HisGirl put in our lesson. Both short, but oh, so powerful.  Be blessed my friends.

Revelation 3:19 (New Living Translation)
19 I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.

Proverbs 12:27 (New Living Translation)
27 Lazy people don’t even cook the game they catch,
but the diligent make use of everything they find.