04/04/2023 – The vice of apathy / Book excerpt: “Why Do I Do What I Don’t Want to Do” by Jonathan “JP” Pokluda / ISBN # 9781493439485
The subtitle: “Replace Deadly Vices with Life-Giving Virtues”
Here is an excerpt I would like to share:
Section: “A Slow Drift”
“D.A. Carson is one of the leading New Testament scholars of our day. He has done for modern New Testament scholarship than arguably anyone else. And he says this which is the perfect quote as we diagnose the vice of apathy:
‘People do not drift toward holiness. Apart from grace-driven effort, people do no gravitate toward godliness, prayer, obedience to Scripture, faith, and delight in the Lord. We drift toward compromise and call it tolerance, we drift toward disobedience and call it freedom; we drift toward superstition and call it faith. We cherish the indiscipline of lost self-control and call it relaxation; we slouch toward prayerlessness and delude ourselves into thinking we have escaped legalism; we lids toward godlessness and convince ourselves we have been liberated.’ “
“Think about it this way:
When your car is out of alignment , it naturally drifts out of the lane. If you leave your hands off the wheel for too long, you will inevitably wreck your car. Without your effort to do your part, you will end up in a place you don’t want to be. You will drift toward apathy naturally. You will not naturally drift toward a more godly, disciplined, holy version of yourself. It will not happen. Which raises the question, What is God’s role, and what is our role? We are saved by grace through faith. It is an act of God’s kindness and grace to us. The Holy Spirit is sanctifying us, which is also a work of grace, but we are not devoid of responsibility.
You have a role to play. You are to discipline yourself for godliness.”
We’ll get back to Peter Kreeft’s: “How to be Holy” after this Holy Week conclusion to the Gospel of John. But that book could dovetail right into this book.
Soli Deo Gloria! Grab on and don’t ever let go!