Who cares? That’s a fairly common and popular statement and attitude these days; but what does it really say? What are the implications about a people who don’t care? Not caring, or at least trying not to care, feels like a safer place to exist. If we care too much, it seems like we’re often disappointed or at the very least we don’t realize a fulfillment of that which we have decided to care about. Sometimes it even seems that the very things that we care about are the things that the universe decides to falter in. “Maybe it’s me”, we think, “Why do I even bother?”
I think of God in Heaven. What if He took our approach? What if He decided, “They always disappoint Me, why do I even bother?” In fact, I think that we believe that this is how God thinks. We believe that He thinks like us. The truth is very different. God said in Genesis that He regretted making the earth, just before He destroyed all life on it, except the fish and Noah and company. If we study these passages, we come to see that His real regret was not exactly that He had made the earth, but that man’s struggle on it had become so great. In other words, the thing that He cared about most was in trouble. The idea that we disappoint God is a human concept which we tend to account to God. It isn’t really what the Scriptures reveal to us about His character, however. Time and again, God teaches man the righteous way to live. Time and again, mankind chooses another way, their way. He takes steps to correct man each and every time. He doesn’t like their choice, but I think to say that it disappoints Him is incorrect. It is too manlike. The fact is that in order for Him to be disappointed, we’d have to do something that He didn’t expect. God is not surprised by mankind’s actions and therefore they do not fall short of His expectations. They do often fall short of His desire for us, but He knows us. It’s not shocking to Him. He knows our capacity for free will. He created it through choice. God cares greatly about us and the choices that we make, but He doesn’t demand results, as much as He does relationship. Think of the Israelites. They went their way more times than we can count, and yet, faithful God stuck with them. Did He correct? Yes. Did He not also stick with them? If there was one person that could be used to lead the people in another direction, toward God, He would use it. God uses relationship to continue on, even when that relationship is strained. Why? He cares.
We might remember this the next time that a person or persons disappoint us. We might recall that the point is not to become result oriented in what others do, but to be more focused on whether or not that person will use the opportunity to strengthen the relationship. Through the relationship, behaviors change. Waiting for behaviors to change before we have relationship gives no one a reason to change, no new direction to go in. There are, of course, cases of human abusiveness that we cannot tolerate. In those cases we must correct. That correction will often mean distance in the relationship, but if the other person cares, they too will make adjustments. That will show that they care and reveal, again, relationship. In the end, relationship change and growth are the real goals, not just getting others to behave the way that we hope that they will. When we attempt to get others to behave the way that we want them to, we often behave in a way that is uncaring towards others and their desires. It is often perceived as our caring only for ourselves and our own agenda. It isn’t relational. Instead of trying to force results, do like God: Be relational and get them. Blessings!

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