I find it interesting that the turn of the year, the annual transition point, comes in the dead of winter. After the lights of Christmas have faded from memory, we close the chapter of one series of events and open the pages to find a new set of circumstances awaiting us. It can be a very exciting time for us all...as long as we stay close to the fire, as long as we remain in the place of warmth when it is cold outside.
Truly, it is a dangerous thing to venture out into the brisk weather without suitable clothing. Stay out too long enough and one may find oneself at the mercy of the elements suffering the effects of the cold as it creeps into every fibre of one’s being. The official designation of this condition is known as hypothermia. It is by no means a pleasant experience, especially if you have seen someone fall victim to it firsthand as I have. The warmth of one’s body retreats from the extremities, including the head, hands and feet, unto the body’s core, making it a very dangerous and life-threatening situation. A person so afflicted must be given immediate assistance and returned to a warm atmosphere as soon as possible if his/her condition is to be remedied and the threat to life removed.
A very similar affliction can happen on the spiritual plane within the church. It doesn’t take the coldness of the winter’s atmosphere to initiate its effects. This spiritual hypothermia (better known as apathy) creeps in slowly and unexpectedly when the church body moves away from the fire, the spiritual warmth, of Christ. This is accomplished for many reasons: a desire to go her own way rather than His, a conscious or subconscious pursuit of goals that are inward rather than outward in motivation, a lack of prayer in the submission and seeking of His will for direction, etc.
On these and many other grounds, the church body suffering from spiritual hypothermia pulls away from the warmth of Christ’s presence and moves into the coldness of her own counsel. In so doing, the result becomes the opposite of what she, the church, expects. The warmth of her body begins to withdraw into her core, causing her extremities to suffer loss. Her hands and feet no long work and move as they used to in the past. The outreach and service efforts are no longer there. Her head is constantly warning her of these problems and difficulties, but, because the coldness has reached the upper regions of her body as well, her eyes and ears are likewise damaged, therefore, she is not seeing what she needs to and not hearing these words of alarm. Her legs are robotically taking her further and further away from the warmth. Speaking of the warmth, only the core of her body is enjoying it still. Only those in the fellowship for the longest time whose families possess the greatest tenures and histories blissfully move forward as if there is nothing wrong. After all, the cold is not touching them. As long as the body does not die completely nor will it, they say! Yet, such is not the inevitable outcome of spiritual hypothermia. Like its physical parallel, the death of its parts will bring the demise of the whole. Its just a matter of time.
How then can spiritual hypothermia be remedied? The warnings of the head must be heeded. The body must be moved back to the warmth. Like the Apostle Paul states in I Corinthians 12, we are all part of one body with each of us as members. The head cannot move the body on its own; the head needs the ears, the legs as well as the rest of the body to get the body back to the place of warmth, by the fire of Christ’s presence. To be close to Christ is something that all of us together need to want, to desire, to do. The body of Christ is an organism made up of believers who themselves are “on fire” for the Lord and who are corporately“on fire” for the Lord. The only way to combat spiritual hypothermia is for each of us to pursue this passionate desire to be closer to Him individually and to bring that passion with us when we gather together to worship Him.
Let us make this our goal for 2009. May we take the following passage from Psalm 42:1-2 , declaring it to be our corporate theme for the year:
As the deer pants for the water brooks,
So my soul pants for You, O God.
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
Amen.
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