Apathy. I hate apathy.

As I sit down to type this out my mind is running at full speed and I'm having a hard time collecting my thoughts. There's so much I want to say and so much that is screaming to get out and so now I'm left trying to collect and organize it all so that it says what I mean to say. One of the issues that has been burning me from the inside out and has become the talking point of most conversations between my husband and myself as of late, is the theme of apathy and purpose (purpose will be my next ranting so stay tuned). One more area that I get heated up over and I so just want to scream from the roofs! When I look around at church (once again meaning church as a whole and not specifically singling out an individual church) I see so much apathy it makes me want to puke. I see people who come to fill their church/God quota and who leave in the same way they came in. They sit, they sing, they do what they have to do to get by and all the while they could really care less. I want to scream WAKE UP YOU SLEEPING AND BLIND CHURCH! WAKE UP YOU PEOPLE AND SEE AND TASTE AND REALNESS OF A RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS!! It makes me frustrated to no end!! I realize that I was blessed beyond belief by having the privilege of growing up in the most incredible youth group and with the best youth pastor and mentors anybody could ever have. My youth pastor did not allow apathy and complacency. You couldn't sit under his teaching without growth. I know that seeing that and be challenged to more was a huge gift I will forever treasure. So I guess the possible reason for the apathy is that most or many people in churches today have not seen what real growth, depth and a passionate desire for more look like. From the pastor on down they don't see realness, passion, and genuineness and they have no one to model it to them. They are living out this watered down sorry excuse for Christianity because it was modeled for them. Which is a sad cycle to live out and to pass down. But at the same time this cannot be an excuse. At some point there has to be growth and maturity and even if it hasn't been lived out to you physically. Ignorance can not be an excuses for apathy. So then how can this be changed? There's a quote from the Batman Begins movie (to quote this makes my husband very proud and means I have been totally corrupted), which says,"People need dramatic examples to shake them from their apathy." How true is this?! The question here in lies how dramatic is it going to have to be to get peoples attention? What does it take to get people excited and passionate and to desire growth? I don't know.....but I'd like to figure it out! I'm praying that God will create sparks under people and that those sparks will be contagious and that full fires can break out and that people can't help but catch it and be inspired to want more!! Apathy in the church isn't something new. It was an issue that is dealt with throughout the Bible as well. Look at the Israelites and how time after time they gave into apathy and fore went a relationship with God for lack of desire for anything but themselves. Revelation 3:16 is talking with the church at Laodicea and telling them that because they are neither hot nor cold that God will spit them from his mouth. I don't get how we can claim to be Christians and yet be in this lukewarm state. You can't just be in the same state that you are right now. If you're not growing and moving forward then you're falling back and withering away. You are either hot or cold but lukewarm is not an option. Time and time again the message is clearly written out, that it is by your fruit you will know if someone is a Christian or follower of Christ. You can't produce fruit or passion if you're cold and apathetic. And by fruit I'm not meaning a list of how many people you've "saved" or led to the Lord. When I think fruit I think more of the traits and characteristics that is listed in the Bible of those who have a heart and desire for Christ. Take the fruits of the Spirit for an simple example. I think too often what is preached and demanded from the church is to go out there and witness to all you meet and convince them to get right with Jesus and get saved. That to me is not an example of being hot but being somebody who values lip service. It's like we're told that if we're not getting people saved then we're a failure and it becomes like a notch in our belt when we do. If we lived out a realness and passion and were hot and were producing fruit people would see that and the modeling what a real walk with Christ is would make them want what we have. Realness and passion trump Bible thumpers any day of the week. Until we, as the church, get passionate (and I'm not talking about becoming holy Bible thumpers that pounce on people with the "plan of salvation" but people who are hungry for more. Who desire a passion and deeper walk with Jesus that they're realness and hunger will be what people see because it's modeled and not just lip service and that's what will make people know that we are Christians. By what and how we live that will say what we claim to believe.) how can we expect to reach anybody, let alone "non Christians"? Why should they want to by into this Christianity bit if by with it we claim for a new life in Christ and what we model is a life that is dead. Are we any better than those we are trying to "save"? Spiritual death is the same for those saved and unsaved I guess the only difference is one has a "get out of hell free card" and the other one doesn't. So what makes people different and what makes one group passionate and one not? I believe part of the answer is purpose. Those who have and live a life of purpose can not be apathetic because they are part of the bigger picture. They are living for more then themselves and they are striving for more realness and depth. So while I'm gathering my thoughts and scripture for a rant on purpose I'll leave this where it is. I feel like I had more thoughts and things I wanted to express and yet those thoughts have alluded me for now. So the final question; are you a hungry passionate person or are you apathetic and just like the rest of the world. Are you hot or cold? And if you're hot where's your fruit?