12 Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of
unbelief, in departing from the living God. 13 But exhort one another daily,
while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness
of sin. 14 For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our
confidence steadfast unto the end;
- Hebrews 3:12-14
As I searched the scriptures and looked to see what the cause of apathy is…I spent some time battling it myself. Ever since I started this task of breaking down the enemy’s tactics, I found myself battling the very thing that I was determined to expose.
As I was contemplating in my mind the cause of apathy, I asked myself some questions. “Why do you not share your faith with the lost as much as you should”? Fear…maybe. But then I thought about my mother-in-law who drove eight hours to our house when she was battling depression and her own fears about driving to see her daughter who was in unbearable pain after getting a spinal tap. Love conquers fear. But what if the spinal tap didn’t exist? Then there would be no reason to drive. So what if there was no hell? Then there would be no reason to witness. If there was no sickness, there would be no reason for the cure.
What is Unbelief?
Unbelief (Strong’s #570, apistia) simply means, faithlessness, disbelief; and comes from Strong’s #571 (apistos), meaning distrustful, disbeliever, unbeliever, and one without the Christian faith. The reason why unbelief is so dangerous is because everywhere in the bible (including the above verse), unbelief is a characteristic of the unbeliever, the heathen, the evil, and unredeemed. When a person believes, they must act on that belief. Actions speak louder than words as the saying goes.
The Dangers of Unbelief
Unbelief is like a cancer that continues to grow and if untreated will kill and change cells that were once good and pure. Unbelief breeds ingratitude, and makes us cold and uncaring of what is around us. We don’t act according to those beliefs and then those beliefs slowly die. We become indifferent to what is around us, and the people whom we need to share our hope with.
15 Unto the pure (free from the defilements of the flesh and the world), all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving nothing is pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. 16 They profess to know God; but in works they deny Him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate (not passing the test, rejected). – Titus 1:15-16 (emphasis mine).
When a person is defiled, it is so easy to defile others. That is why in Deuteronomy 20:8 the officers told the people to go home if they are fearful and fainthearted (unbelieving) because fear and unbelief are both contagious. Remember this, “it is easier to pull someone off a ladder, than to pull them up one.”
Not only that, but the final end of the unbelieving, is hell.
8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will have their part in the lake of fire which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. – Revelation 20:8
Why do the cowardly and unbelieving come first and second in this list? I believe because they have not believed the Father, nor the Son of God, and therefore make him a liar (1 John 5:10). If the end of the unbeliever is eternity in a lake of fire, why should we be like them here on earth?
What about me?
Are you grateful to God and what He has done? Are you grateful for His Provision by sending Jesus Christ on the cross as a payment for your sin debt? Think about what He has done. Take some time to look around you and see all that God has given. Is He worth it? Is He worth my time, talents, and treasure? I wish I can spend so much more time on this subject, for it may be the heart of the matter. Next time, I will look at how one can overcome unbelief with help from the Lord, and others.
