Apathy

Path Four: Disbelief

Disbelief: How would it make a difference if I care? (Path 4)

Disbelief answers, "How would it make a difference if I care?":

I can't make a difference

God wouldn't choose me

Someone else can do better

This person doesn't need me

Okay, this is the most destructive path for our well-being as a whole and our faith. Satan's strategy here is to essentially destroy your self-esteem until you are convinced that it isn't worth caring for others, because even if you did, it would make no difference.
Disbelief is a broad idea, right? Not in this situation. All Satan has to do is make you doubt one of three entities, and through that, make you doubt them all. The three entities are God, others, and yourself.

Take self-doubt for example, using the first bullet point above. "I can't make a difference." This is directed toward you personally, but from here, it can become, "Because I can't make a difference, God won't choose me." See? Now you are actually doubting God as well as yourself. By saying that God "won't, can't, or doesn't" do something, you are almost- no definitely are- expressing a lack of belief in His abilities. You have put Him in a box.

Now, look at the third bullet point above. "Someone else can do better." This is directed at you. However, consider this: "This person doesn't need me. Someone else can do better." Now instead of just doubting your ability to care or help someone, you are also doubting someone's need for your influence and God's light in you. Not only that, but you are passing judgment on yourself, and the other person and their situation as well.

Alright, who's ready to debunk some lies?

- "Because I can't make a difference, God won't choose me."-

If the Bible teaches us anything consistently (among other things) it's that anyone can make a difference. And God will- I repeat will- choose anyone to make that difference. He chose a shepherd boy to become the king of His people, a virgin woman to give birth to His Son, and sinners- tax collectors and fisherman and ordinary men- as companions through Jesus. He will choose you. In fact, He already has; He chose you long before you chose Him. John 15:16 tells us this and why we were chosen:

"You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you, so that you might go and bear fruit- fruit that will last- and so that whatever you ask in My Name, the Father will give you."

You make a difference in Him, and He has not only chosen you, but appointed you. Whatever reason you are given for why God "won't" choose you is wrong. Because there is always a reason, usually having to deal with our past mistakes. "God won't choose me because of this. God won't use me because I did this." When I think of this, it reminds me of the anointment of the prophet, Isaiah.
Isaiah is called in a vision to the temple of the Lord. When he realizes he is in the presence of the Lord, he cries out in fear: "Woe to me!" I cried. "I am ruined! I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eye has seen the King, the Lord Almighty." (Isaiah 6:5). Once he says this, an angel touches a coal to his lips and says, "Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." (Isaiah 6:7). After this, the Lord calls to him and anoints him as His prophet.
Sometimes, when the Spirit compels us or speaks to us, we do what Isaiah did. "I am broken. I am a sinner. Because of this, God can't speak to me or use me." But the fact is, we are already cleansed of that past sin. Those "I am"'s are now "I was"'s. Don't let the devil trap you in the past and prevent you from serving God as the Loved and Loving Child you are now and for all of eternity.

- "This person doesn't need me. Someone else can do better."-

This thought is so poisonous. Look, who are you to make this assumption? Do you know what that person does or doesn't need at that moment? No, unless they directly told you, you don't. For all you know, you are the one person in the world they need in that moment.
And do better at what? Showing love and compassion? Being kind? If God wanted someone else to help that person, He would have called them instead of you. But no, He chose you because you are exactly what you need to be in that moment for that person. Please, believe me, there are people who need you, and no one can do what you do.
And you know, it doesn't have to be anything big most of the time. Once I went to Dairy Queen for my lunch hour. That day, I could tell they were having a rough day, so I decided to offer some encouragement. I left them a note. It wasn't anything fancy; all it said was, "Thank you so much! Keep up the great work, you guys!"
Three weeks later, I was there again. The cashier brought me my food, then pausing, she asked me if I was the girl who left a note a while back. When I told her I was, she smiled the biggest smile. She told me that she kept that note and framed it. That note meant so much to her that day and she was so grateful for it. I didn't know this girl or the situation, but the joy on her face was beautiful... and all because of a quickly scribbled note left on the table at a fast food restaurant.
So don't sell yourself, God, or others short. Believe in the power that love- your love and God's love shining through you- has, and don't doubt your influence and role in sharing it.

If I speak tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing... Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3 & 8-9)