204. [Lent Study] Acedia And The Noonday Demon

Restlessness has a way of disguising itself as normal. Sometimes it looks like scrolling before we even get out of bed. Sometimes it looks like a packed calendar and a “successful” life that still feels hollow. Today we name that ache for what it is: acedia, the ancient spiritual struggle the early church called the noonday demon.

We walk through the meaning of acedia as more than laziness. It is resistance to the demands of love, a heart that stops caring about the right things. Drawing from John Cassian and Thomas Aquinas, we explore why acedia can show up as total withdrawal or as hyper-productivity, and why our culture often praises the very pattern that keeps us spiritually numb. We talk about how acedia whispers, “If God loved you, you’d be somewhere else,” then pushes you toward distraction, avoidance, chronic dissatisfaction, and treating prayer, Scripture, generosity, and forgiveness like optional add-ons.

Then we get practical. The historic cure is not more noise or a new escape plan. It is presence. It is forcing ourselves back into the “cell” of our real life, noticing the sun rise and set, and choosing gratitude that watches, waits, and remembers. Whether you feel stuck in your calling, checked out in your relationships, or unsure you’re making a difference, this is an invitation to show up with your whole self and do what love requires right where God has you.

My hope is that this podcast helps grow your faith and equips you to accomplish your dreams and goals!

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Transcript

Welcome And Lent Study Setup

SPEAKER_00 0:07

Okay, welcome to the podcast. Um, I'm so glad that you are here. Here lately, we've been um posting from our staff chapel, and this week we actually didn't have staff chapel, but I wanted to make sure and get you guys another part of our Lint study that we've been in as a staff, and I've been going through the seven deadly sins, and this week we're gonna talk about acadia. So here we go. Um, the word acadia comes from the Greek meaning, which means lack of care. Um, and whenever it got translated into the Latin tradition, um they say acidia. And so if someone says acetia, they're not wrong, they're just saying it in the Latin way, but acadia would be the Greek version of it. And the church fathers um didn't mean that when they're saying acadia, the sin of Acadia, it doesn't mean that you stopped caring about everything. It meant that you stopped caring about the right things, and so acadia in its purest sense is not just inactivity, it's resistance to the demands of love. Um, John Cassian in the year 360 to 430 AD is when he was alive, he said the soul is horrified at its place, disgusted within itself, and rejects all spiritual work. And what he's talking about is at this time monasteries are getting formed, and um, with it, the people they called it the noonday demon. And basically, these monks are called into this ascetic lifestyle, which means just separation from culture and society to seek God. And every day at noon, they would find themselves looking out the window, and in looking out the window, they're longing to be anywhere than the place that God has them. And they found themselves like glorifying what other people are doing, what is it like to live outside of here? And it started to get this thing of um on the inside of them, they found that they were thinking, what does it matter? Like life just goes by, there's no meaning, there's no significance, somebody else is doing the good. Why does my good make any difference? And we'll talk about this more in the cure, but the cure, what they started to do with the monks is they were like, as you're looking out the window and you catch yourself in the state of acadia and the state of restlessness, is to begin to watch the sun and remind yourself that today the sun has risen and the sun will set. And the place I am is where God has me right now. And I think that's so interesting because we don't, I think as I studied Acadia and I've read so much around it, I don't think that this is a sin that we name, but I think it's a sin that's like prevalent everywhere. We don't look out the window, but we look through the window of our cell phones. And we're constantly longing, even you think about from the time we wake up, we turn on our phones and we start the scroll. We, you know, we've been asleep for five, six, eight hours, or if you're like me last night, nine hours. And the first thing we do when we wake up is to see what kind of life we're missing out on. What significant contributions are other people making? And it starts in us this um restlessness, this sense of is there something greater beyond where I presently am? Is the good that's being made in the earth existing in other places and not where I presently am? And so in this, um, acadia at its truest form, it wants the benefits of a relationship without doing what is needed. So this acadia, what what it does is it's like, I don't like my life, I don't like my calling, I don't like the people that God called me to do life with. And I am in love and I am romanticizing what it would be like to have someone else's life, to have someone else's calling, and to do life with any other person than where I am. And what's crazy about acadia, because it's probably one of the most insidious, because there's times there's there's two different types of acadia. One is uh where it looks like total inactivity and it's it's doing nothing, which people would look at this, and it's not the action that we're most concerned with, because sometimes the person that is doing the least is actually not in acadia because their heart posture is I love the life I have, I love the people I'm do with doing it with, and I love the calling that God's given me. So it doesn't look like hyperactivity, but yet to the world, they would call it laziness. But the heart posture of that person is not laziness, it's rest in God. Then there's the other person, and I think this is most of our culture society today, that is so hyperactive that they're doing everything. And people would look at them and say, Well, they're not struggling with Acadia. Like, look at how much they're doing, look at how much they're producing, look at, I mean, they're constantly doing the next thing. They're so successful, they're so great. But the core motivation for everything they're doing is I'm not settled in what God's called me to do. I'm not settled in the people that He's called me to do it with. I'm not settled in the place that God has me. And so I'm doing all these things to get me to any other place than this place, to get me connected with other people than these people, and to further my call to any other place than the call that God has me. But culture would look at that and say, that's not sin, that's productivity. Like that person is actually like the American um like personification of what we should be. But what acadia does is again, like I said, it wants the benefits of the relationship without doing what's needed. So in a person that's struggling with acadia, they would agree that worship is good. They would agree that generosity is a virtue. They would agree that reading scriptures is beneficial for spiritual growth. So a person that's struggling with acadia says all yes to all those things, but it's unwilling to do the things that produce the spiritual fruit that they desire. So they're highly active in every other way, but not doing the very things that they know they need to do. The spiritual things. It would be like a meh attitude towards God. Acadia convinces you the problem is your life, the end of your life is actually the problem is in your love. So, like what Acadia does is it tells you the problem's your life, where actually the problem is your love. Again, all of these seven deadly sins all come back to distorted view of love. And in this, it's telling us Acadia will tell us that if we were loved by God, we would be in some other place. If we were loved by God, we would be connected with some different people. If we were loved from by God, we would have all these other things. Instead of the cure to that is to be like the monk. And they actually would tell the monk, when you feel academic the most and you want to numb and you want to distract and you want to go into these like self-coping mechanisms, they would say the best time to sit and observe the sun is right then. Like that's how you push back. It's to force yourself into the present, to force yourself to be a hundred percent where you are. And so um, Thomas Aquinas says that acadia is sorrow at the divine good. So to put this plainly, acadia is when love feels like a burden instead of a gift. And I see this in culture. Like we say, prayer is so hard, scriptures are so hard, generosity is so hard, and we feel sorrow for the godly things God's called us to do instead of joy in them. And so instead of doing those things, we doom scroll, instead of doing those things, we binge Netflix, instead of those things, we entertain ourselves into gossip. Instead of those things, like we keep substituting again, it's distorted love. And because uh to cure acadia, to cure our longing to be somewhere else, we have to put ourselves in this place of trust and to be a hundred percent present and do what love requires. So even think about this. Um, I read a journal article and it was fantastic, and she related uh acadia to our relationships. And she was talking about how sometimes in even in our marriage relationship, we know what to do to have a healthy marriage. Like we know. And we know when our spouse isn't pleased with us, and we know on the purest part of us, we know how to reconcile that difference. But Acadia says, I don't want to do what love requires. And so instead, we distance ourselves, we go into the other room, we create this separation, we let our minds imagine of is this was were they actually the right partner for me? Did I actually marry the right person? Is this place actually where I'm supposed to be? Was this God's actual will for my life that I married them and that we're still in this relationship? I don't know if this is connecting with anybody, but what that is, it's it's acadia. It's sin. And in this instance, it's not acadia against God, but it's acadia against the covenantal relationship that we have. So even think about this that when it comes to church, like God put us in this covenant community. And then we go through difficult times and we know that we're still called to give, we know that we're still called to serve, we still, we know that we're still called by God to show up in those spaces of community. But acadia would say, that you're really not making a difference. Like your calling, your purpose exists somewhere outside of here. And is this really the church you're supposed to be? Other people are giving in the church. The church doesn't need your gift. Give somewhere else. You're a good person, like give to the homeless person. Like God's not keeping up. And what is that? It's acadia. It's acadia sneaking in and it's telling you that the place you are, the people you're called to, and the calling that you have exist somewhere outside of the place that God has you right now. And so, what do you do? We do like the monk, you force yourself to show up, to be present in the cell, to observe what is happening, that the sun is rising, the sun is setting, and that where you are is where God has you. And so, Acadia, um, it presents some different ways in our life. It looks like avoidance. Um, we begin to withdraw from the things that matter most. Um, restlessness. We can't sit still with God. I think this is so common in our culture, society. Um, everything is filled with so much noise. You know, even social media, the person that's gonna go viral is the one who's shouting and angry. Like that, that post is gonna go viral because people want shouts, but God comes and whispers, like he's the still small voice. And so we have this restlessness. We can't sit still with God, so we just cram our world with so much noise. And in that, that's part of avoidance, right? We're doing anything but the thing that God's called us to do. I love there's a story in the Bible where the man needs to be cleansed of leprosy and he shows up to the prophet, and the prophet goes, just go go take a bath, like go wash yourself. And he gets so mad. And his servant asked him, he said, If the pro if God would have asked for you to do something difficult, would you have done it? And I think what Acadia does is we want anything but the simplicity of where we are. We want anything but the simplicity of forgiving our spouse. We want anything but the simplicity of showing up in the community that we have. And we want anything but being fully present in the room that we are. We are numbing constantly, which is number three, distraction. You fill your life with lesser things. Like we're constantly distraction. Like, just even think about how many times are we in a room and are we a hundred percent there? Like one time I caught myself, I was trying to read a book, scroll social media. I also had a movie on and I was trying to have a conversation with somebody on the couch. And in that moment, I realized this is so stupid. And what are we doing? We're just so distracted. And again, I go back to the picture of that monk in the cell, like be a hundred percent present. I think it's so interesting that the other monks didn't instruct him, okay, go find something to do. Like go sweep a floor, go mop, go wash linens. No, they're like force yourself to not be distracted, force yourself to be 100% present. And number four is resistance. Resistance. And I've kind of talked about this throughout, but it's where we reject what love requires. We reject what love requires. So we resist it so hard. That's acadia. So if we're not careful, we misdiagnose like that place of rest and being present as laziness, and we call that the sin, where actually that person with the heart posture could actually be more aligned than the person who's hyperproductive and doing all the things. Now, Acadia, um, uh around the time of the Reformation, bless the Reformation, um, it got labeled as sloth. It's got it started getting the name of sloth. And the first time it appears as sloth is actually with Thomas Aquinas. Um, but Thomas Aquinas was calling it sloth uh for this reason is that it was moral laziness. But in the Reformation, it started being about productivity, and so to them, belief at starting at the Reformation, the picture of belief is action, and non-belief was equated with non-action. And so the picture of the sloth began to be as long as we're not quote unquote lazy, we're not slothful, therefore we're not sinful with Acadia, which is not true at all. But what the picture of the sloth, what Thomas Aquinas in his writings is he's wanting to show that we're fast towards everything else in this world, but we're slow when it comes to God. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And that's the sin of Acadia. Like anything that the world asks, like, we'll do it quickly. Like, oh, show up, do this job, make this thing happen, quick, quick, quick. Like I'm moving, moving, moving. But God asks me to forgive slow. I'm not gonna do it. I'm resisting, I'm avoiding, I'm doing anything but that. And that's what Thomas Aquinas meant. But in the Reformation, it started to say our productivity, that when we look at our life, belief is action. And that's just not true. Again, most of what we call sin is not sin. And so when we're measuring it, because acadia is so sneaky because it's hard to diagnose. So even in labeling it that, it made it even more difficult because I can be doing all the things, and I'm using like strong air quotes right now, but still be plagued with acadia in my heart. And so again, acadia today looks like constant distraction, emotional numbness, spiritual avoidance, chronic dissatisfaction. And some of these things you might think, oh my gosh, it's almost like depression, but I do believe in critical depression. Just I believe in that. But I'm talking about a posture of the spirit. I'm talking about motivation of the spirit. I'm not just talking about these emotions that we're having, but I'm talking about spiritual motivations. What are they? And so in this, it's not a laziness, but it's an overstimulation of what the world has and an under-devotion when it comes to our spiritual lives. We would never go a day without checking Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, our email, our text messages, but we go many days without prayer. And in Acadia, it's a life where God is optional. It's just optional. I want to be somewhere I want to be called. I want to be with the people I want to be with. I want to find the purpose that makes me happy. And so in this, and we see this in our lives today, I believe, because we live in a world that's close to transcendence. Um, we're living as though nothing exists beyond the physical, visible, immediate world. And because we don't believe in transcendence, acadia runs rampant. Because to us, and like, so think about this. We're centered on our human flourishing because we don't believe in transcendence. So if I don't have something physical, tangible for the good that I'm doing, then I don't want to do it. So if I don't get a feeling or emotion from prayer, then I'm not going to do it because I don't believe in transcendence. So I have to have some kind of metaphysical response. Does this make sense? And to um be able to continue to be motivated. That's why a lot of times when it comes to the area of giving, people want to know what's in it for me. Like if I give, will I like get a brand new car and all my wildest dreams will come true? Because we don't believe in transcendence. At the core of us, we don't believe that we can be obedient just because it's obedient, and that that testimony of obedience lives on into eternity. We want something right now. And what is that? It's acadia because we are dissatisfied with where we presently are, and we want to do something to change the calling, the purpose, the people of where we find ourselves in. So, um, so the cure, as I've said, like what does it look like? I think we just continue to show up. I think showing up in places of prayer, showing up in the community of faith, showing up in the relationships that we're in, catching ourselves when we're numbing at home and we're scrolling when the most important people are in the room right there, and we're more obsessed with the people that we follow on Instagram and what's the latest, you know, tea or drama. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't have entertainment. I don't think entertainment is bad, but the motivation of the entertainment is different. And I think the motivation of the entertainment when I'm doing it in measures versus I've spent my entire day doom scrolling on the phone and I've had no connection with God. I've had no connection with the people in my home. I haven't just sat and observed, you know, been present. I think that's where Acadia is in. So in Acadia, again, it's dissorted love. It's distorted love. And it's if God loved me, things would be different. If God loved me, I would have any life but the life I'm in. And and forcing myself to show up with deep gratitude, deep gratitude of Lord, where I am is enough. What you have for me is enough. My friend uh Cornet he wrote a uh devotional for Lent, and this was actually in his Lent devotion from the other day, and I thought it was so beautiful. Um he quotes in Psalms 130, verses five and six, it says, I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning. And he says this gratitude is not passive, it watches, waits, and remembers, training the soul to recognize God's hand at work, even in the silence. Say uh Ephraim, the Syrian, wrote, Let thanks be continually on your lips, for it is more pleasing to God than all the prayers and psalms. And what is that? I just again, it's just that picture of the monk being present in the cell, watching the sun, observing the place that he has him right there. So to the mom listening with the kids wilding out in the house, observe the children. It's exactly where you're supposed to be. Like this moment right here with all the beauty, with all the mess, with all the chaos, like somewhere else isn't where God wants you. And God's not going to use you more when your kids are 18 or when they're out of the house or when they start school. Like right now, like fight back on Acadia to the person who's struggling in their prayer life. Just keep showing up to the closet of prayer. Like just keep showing up to the secret place, to the person that has that longing and that questioning of like, did I do the right thing? Did I marry the right person? Am I in the right space? I want to and just encourage you to show up with your whole self. Honor the space that God has you. Honor the table that you're seated at with all those humans around that table. Fight back on that Acadia to the person that's overworking and overextending because they want to be in any other place than the place they are now. Slow down. Slow down and ask yourself, God, what are the things that you want me to do? Teach me how to be still. Teach me how to be silent. Teach me how not to do more and expand more and grow my capacity, but actually grow more in my capacity of you. That I'm so aware of where you are. I'm so aware of what you're doing. Take any spiritual apathy out of me. Let me not prioritize the things of this world above, the things that you call holy and good. So again, where Acadia says, This is too much, Christ says, Not my will, but yours be done. Where Acadia says, I don't want the life God has given me. And instead, we say today, I have everything I need to do what God's called me to do. Where I am is right where I'm supposed to be. I'm not a step ahead, I'm not a step behind. I'm right on track. So I hope you got something out of that. 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