So many of you come from countries where English is not your primary language so perhaps the word “jaded” may not mean a lot to some of you. It means things that used to excite you, alarm you, surprise you, anger you, or created strong feelings within you – no longer do. When that happens, you are “jaded”. At least that’s my definition of it.
This is an important topic for each of us to consider because one of Satan’s greatest tools is to get each of us jaded regarding things spiritual. When we’re jaded, we lose a lot of our desire to fight against sin. We don’t care about rewards and blessings as much. We just get to where things don’t matter so much. And that’s exactly when Satan can make inroads into our lives. We must not let him have any advantages over us, so I hope you’ll consider this topic carefully. As I look at my own life and across the ekklesia of our Father’s called-out-ones, frankly I see a lot of jaded people. Not good.
Getting jaded is caused by a lot of things, including too many disappointments when expectations and hopes are dashed. Or our hopes and dreams seem to- - more often than not – get squashed into the mire of “forget it”. Prayers we knew in our hearts would be answered positively - - meaning the way WE wanted them to work out – don’t happen that way. Loved ones die too early, too soon. Maybe you’re in pain – and not getting healed. That can do it too. Or we keep yearning for the Promised Messiah’s return – but it seems to keep getting pushed off a few more years. The exciting prophecies and predictions of that preacher who seemed so confident of who, and how, and when everything will work out in the last days -- don’t materialize. Or maybe for you it’s even more personal. You’ve been dumped by friends, or not allowed into certain inner circles or groups or congregations – and you get to the point of not caring anyway. And then we are in the midst of “the love of many (including maybe you and me!) shall wax cold….” (Matthew 24:12).
So what happens? We get jaded. Our prayers lose their intensity and fervency– and some days we don’t even get around to praying at all. (Be sure to tie this blog into the most recent sermon – Fervent Prayers). Our passion for things of God, for life, for important things – is gone. We still do our duties, but the passion’s gone. We get into the gray land of “I don’t care” and “it doesn’t matter” or “it’s no use” and – in worse cases, “I don’t matter”. In the very worst cases, it crashes into the dangerous bottomless pit of “God doesn’t care”.
Yes, it can happen. Certainly it happens even more easily to those who are clinically depressed. But it can happen to any of us –depressed or not. Many of us get depressed, but if you remain depressed for a long time, get some help on it, because it certainly can lead you to an “I don’t care anymore” state of mind.
This is being jaded, a very dangerous state to slip into. A lot of people suffering from clinical depression can slip into this state perhaps more easily than others. But many who don’t have clinical depression are also jaded. Cynicism and being jaded are everywhere. I think most of us – maybe all of us – slip into it from time to time. It’s so widespread that our Master even warned against one aspect or another of this jaded condition in his message to the churches of Revelation 2 and 3. And he tells us over and over to hear what he says to all the congregations.
To the Ephesians, he said: “You’ve left your first love. Go back, find your first love. You’re still working at things, but you’ve lost that fire, that first love, that passion you had at the start.” As the song says, “You’ve lost that loving feeling”. And another song from way back had words like “I don’t know where we went wrong, but the feeling’s gone, and I just can’t get it back…” So song writers know about this. Do you? Does John 3:16 still excite you – as the last blog writer wrote – or do we hear crickets, as he so aptly asked?
To the last church –Laodicea-- maybe to you and me: “You’re neither hot nor cold. I wish you were hot or hold – but you’re in that awful tepid jaded state of ‘lukewarm’, and it’s nauseating me. Repent. Get your passion back!” But remember his message is to all seven church groups.
To Sardis he says: “You’re practically dead, when you should be wide awake. WAKE UP. Renew those things ready to die in your lives.”
To the church at Thyatira: “You’re so jaded you think it’s OK to dabble with wrong teachings and have accept pagan religion and false teachers into your worship of Me”.
Folks, I want to state this: becoming jaded on things that truly matter can have a major impact on what God allows in our lives to wake us up, to get the sparkle back in our eyes, the leap back in our steps, and the excitement back in our voice when we speak of him.
Some examples of how we’re reacting in a jaded way today when we would never have accepted any of this way back:
** Planned Parenthood every year, terminates via abortions over 250,000 -324,000 developing babies, and we yawn. In 2014, they terminated – their words – 323,999 little unborn boys and girls in the making. Read that again and let it sink in. What do most of us do in the face of this ongoing genocide? In fact, how are you reacting right NOW as you read what I just wrote? We sit back and do nothing, say nothing. We’ve heard so much about abortion that we don’t want to upset anyone or lose any friends, so we let it continue without a ripple from us. In other words, we’re jaded about abortion.
** Do you remember the first time you heard about ISIS crucifying children or their parents in the streets? Or the many beheadings that were going on? You cringed at first. But let’s admit it: it’s turning into old news and we’re getting … jaded.
** Do you remember when learning God’s truth was so exciting? You couldn’t study enough, prayer was real, your spouse had to beg you to quit studying and come to bed? Do you remember that first love? What’s it like now?
** Do you remember how eager you were to drop the things we were doing that were not Biblical? But now, some old sins and bad habits of sin . . . still linger. Are we jaded?
** Have you read this far and find this topic dull and boring? Yes! You’re jaded!
So how do we get out of this terrible state?
Click on “Continue reading” for ideas on how to revive your first love.