Complacency - Day 24 - Matthew 7:7, 8

March 10, 2012 • Leave a Comment

Ever found yourself complacent? Maybe it’s complacent in a relationship or maybe your job; same thing, same time, same way, same people, same workload. Whatever “sameness,” you know it’s all good, and you feel confident that regardless of what you do, or don’t do, it will remain the “same” … good, acceptable.

Dictionary.com defines “complacency” as a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like. While reading this definition, the words jumping off the page are “often unaware.” Isn’t that the truth! Haven’t we been there? The bottom drops out of the boat and we think, “What just happened and why didn’t we notice there was a problem?” Well, maybe ... just maybe ... complacency has come into play.

Complacency is when we feel secure in a relationship, no need to do anything more, or less, and no need to “check-in” with the other person. Self-satisfaction tells us all is good. I’m good, so we are good. Until the day, when the other person comes in and says, “Hey, you’ve been busy, so I found another best friend!”

What happened? Complacency. Complacency led to stagnation, a failure to develop, progress, or advance, and stagnation has the potential to "stink-up or sting" all types of relationships, including our relationship with Jesus.

The key to “knowing” God is to constantly be seeking after Him. In the Bible, Matthew, chapter 7, verses 7 and 8 tell us if we ask, seek, and knock, we will receive, find, and be opened to knowing all there is to know about God. Why? God desires to have an intimate ongoing relationship with us. Also, we must take note that these verses are talking about an ongoing, ever increasing desire to ask, seek, and knock which requires constant, day in and day out, engagement in the relationship.

Here’s the difficult piece, as with all relationships, Busyness cries out for our attention; romancing us like a lost love. When busyness seduces us, we push aside relationships, whether it’s with Jesus or someone else, and we depend on what we know and have experienced, our past encounters, to sustain the relationship. Past encounters lie to us, telling us all is well, leading to complacency which takes over the relationship(s), while busyness gets all of our attention.

So, what to do? First, we cannot be seduced by busyness. Second, we cannot become satisfied with past relational encounters. Third, we must keep, or put, Busyness in its proper place … not allowed. Fourth, we must continually be pursuing fresh opportunities to learn something new, something more about God, or about another person. These four steps will keep the stink of stagnation away.

Water that stagnates stinks! Relationships that stagnate stink! The “stink” is noticeable when something, or someone, gets our attention; divorce papers, rebellious kids, and broken friendships. Spiritually speaking, stress, anxiety, out of control relationships, loss of loved ones and … well, you name it … gets our attention, and we find ourselves helplessly crying out, “God, why have you forsaken, me?”

During these “relationship moments”, I imagine God looking down at us and saying, “Finally … I thought you had forgotten about me!”

He doesn’t move … we do … busyness leads us to complacency. Complacency leads us to stagnation. Stagnation, and its stink or sting, leads us back to God. Bottom line, we are like the children of Israel; same thing, same pattern, same result, and same GOD.

God, in His divine love, patiently waits for the stink or sting to bring us back to him. Unfortunately, earthly relationships, are not as resilient.

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