Has anyone addressed the silent killer in the room? Maybe it is time someone does. He is always lurking in the shadows seeking to slit the throat of (even) mature believers. He moves subtlety about. As soon as his slow poison sets in, he numbs you to open up a world of deadly sins (within yourself). Crafty, isn’t he?
The passivity of man can bewilder me. My own passivity astounds me. Passivity plus isolation from other Godly men spawns deadly sins.
Now, I know you are going to tell me; the word ‘passivity’ does not appear in the Word therefore I am making an invalid claim. But just think practically and rather in examples than the specific vocabulary. I think the closest word would be ‘idleness’.
By much slothfulness the building decayeth;
and through idleness of the hands the house droppeth through
It is interesting how idleness not only affects us, but our entire household. Passivity is the catalyst of the downward spiral for many of believers. There are many examples of Bible characters falling prey to passivity.
This was David’s issue.
It happened in the spring of the year, at the time when kings go out to battle, that David sent Joab and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the people of Ammon and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.
Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king’s house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold.
2 Samuel 11:1-2
Now, kings went to do fierce, bloody battles during this season, yet David remained nice and snug at home. David positioned himself perfectly for failure. Like Peter says, when we walk in our calling, we won’t fall. David is not functioning in his calling, his kingly office, and neglects his duties. This allows the stealthy killer time to scale the walls of his heart and climb into the vulnerability of his persona.
Passivity, like all deadly sins, kills from the inside out. It overthrows the kingdom through the means of high treason. This was going to end badly for David. The reader knows it, David doesn’t. Classic paradise plagiarism if you ask me. Just like our forefather, Adam’s passivity allowed Eve to converse with a slithery serpent.
Passivity opens the door for one sin to latch onto another. Passivity in itself might not be internally sinful, but it is the offramp to Sinville. The gateway drug to greater heroine type sins, if you will.
Passivity is like a taxi with infinite seats for sin. There is always room for more sins to take a climb in, as the driver drives in his passive trance.
In David’s case passivity gives leisure to lies. Lies leak into adultery. Adultery fuels more lies. Gallons of lies and the flames of adultery combusts into a murder scene. David is now acting like a mafia boss and not the King after Yah’s own heart.
We choose the path in advance (usually). Each path has its own set of decisions. David chose a certain path once he stayed home and chilled. The set of decisions on the battlefield would have been totally different had he gone out to battle. The detour of decisions he prefered drove as follow:
I have some time to kill.
Should I go outside and look if I see any naked ladies during bath time?
Yes.
Wow, she is beautiful!
I should probably just walk back.
No. I desire her.
I wonder if she is married.
What the heck? I am the king. I can do whatever I want.
I will send my servants to snatch her for me.
I wonder what her name is.
Sounds like the thought process of standard passive bloke watching pornography, if you ask me.
This reminds me of what David’s own son wrote, about the king observing the fool, following the path of darkness. The simpleton slithers his way to the lady of the night’s fornication station. If this dude was too busy walking wholeheartedly in this calling, his feet would never have led him there in the first place.
For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
Proverbs 7:6-10
See how Solomon could accurately predict the path the ‘simple ones’ go down, through simply observing the initial steps? Beware of your first moves. Don’t follow her breadcrumbs. You know where they lead by now. The first step creates your positioning for the rest of the journey. If you catch yourself going down Sheol Street, make a U-turn as soon as possible. It gets more difficult to do a 180 further down. This applies especially to our thought process.
For example, when we mindlessly surf the web. Scrolling through social media or browsing on car dealerships with no real direction of what we came here to accomplish. We aimlessly wander into the web and wonder how we got entangled in secret sins. Lust and greed and other selfish thoughts latch onto us before we can refresh the browser. It is not called the web for nothing.
You see, when you allow the assassin of passivity to creep up on you, it opens the door to his even worse bullying buddies and they are the true killers. His posse includes pornography, lust, idleness, addictions, drunkenness, envy, jealousy, eating disorders, anger, impatience, groaning, and the list goes on and on. It is basically the precursor for all things fleshly, especially pertaining to masculinity.
If a man does not address his own passivity constantly, the Enemy will breach the battle lines and sneak into your bedroom. We cannot afford the breach. Not if we can help it.
Why is passivity so alluring? We love comfort, and stability and predictability. All of these require ZERO faith.
Do not get lost in the Bermuda triangle of Social Media at night. Instagram, Facebook and Youtube – IN(stagram)FA(cebook)(You)TU(be) triangle.
INFATU is weaponized pacifiers of grown men. This is the common kryptonite of our generation. It keeps us from walking in faith and we can lean on our flesh.
INFATU reminds me of the word ‘infatuate‘, which meaning fits surprisingly well;
Be inspired with an intense but short-lived passion or admiration for.
Infatuation and these dopamine distractions strip off the power of engagement and initiation. Initiation could probably have its own blog post but allow me just to scrape the surface today. Passivity leads us like lambs to the slaughter directly into temptation.
David ran into the face of a giant that intimidated the army of the chosen people. Talk about initiation, this is the ultimate guide on how to engage into the vast unknown and unfamiliar terrain. Men need to face the unknown and venture there with the Most High. There is power in initiation. I am not saying seek giants, but heck if you see one popping out, sure as heaven that bad boy is going down.
Do you see the difference in attitude there?
Same guy.
Different attitudes.
The David that’s not interested in going to seasonal battles
VS.
The David that won’t let the opportunity pass him by to kill the giant, uncircumcised Philistine.
There is so much more to touch on here, for instance, to encourage initiation, to not be isolated from believers, to walk in your integrity etc. But I will leave it at that.
Yah please help me run courageously into battle even when I don’t feel like it. Steer me clear from the sin of passivity. Help me to engage and seek initiation in uncharted territories. Make my calling fast and sure. May I be too busy functioning in my calling that I do not get stuck in the booby traps of the Enemy.
This is the way we learn to trust our Abba and the leading of the Ruach.
Shalom
Edgar<>Judah
