What is complacency?
Dictionary.com defines it as “a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc.”
Basically, complacency is to be content with where you are in life. You’re not interested with improving yourself or doing anything different, because you’re satisfied where you are. It doesn’t sound so bad, does it? To be satisfied with yourself. To be content. But God doesn’t want us to live in complacency.
That’s one content kitty. (Don’t worry, I don’t think complacency applies to cats)
I’m not saying we shouldn’t be content. We absolutely should be! Being content, however, shouldn’t keep us from trying to improve ourselves, or from stepping out of our comfort zones. Being a Christian is a growing process. There’s no such thing as a “fully-grown Christian”, because we’re never done growing and learning. The problem is, if we’re complacent, if we’re comfortable where we are, we won’t grow.
Complacency is quite a tricky thing. I think the biggest problem is that we often don’t realize that we are complacent. If a person is doing great things, it’s possible that they are just as complacent as someone who isn’t really doing much at all. So how does that work? Maybe the person who is doing great things has reached the point where doing these things are easy. No problem. But for the other person, they’re content not doing much at all.
You see, just like the person who isn’t doing much, the person who is doing great things is comfortable where he’s at. He doesn’t see a need to improve himself, or to grow. He thinks he’s doing fine. And although he’s doing incredible things, he’s complacent, just like the other guy.
Look at your own life. Are you living inside your comfort zone? Is God calling you to grow, to shake off complacency? Give it a shot, and I can guarantee you’ll realize you still have a lot of growing left to do!
-christrocks
TTT 
Great post! It’s so important to understand the difference between being content and being complacent (which is next on my long list of things to blog about) 🙂 Sometimes people can use the excuse of being “content” with where they are at to stay in their comfort zone when in reality sometimes God wants us to make changes in our life not because we are no longer content with where He has placed us but because it’s time to move on to the next season and place with Him. We can’t grow without change!
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Thank you, and absolutely! God wants us to be content, but He also wants us to be growing and fully giving ourselves in everything we do.
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Very insightful! I’d never thought of it that way before. Often I assume complacency is a malady of those living ‘ordinary’ lives – who don’t take risks and are comfortable where they are. But it can affect those with seemingly successful, exciting lives too. It’s all about pushing ourselves forward rather than smugly assuming we’ve ‘made it’ as you say. Great point about the Christian life being one of growth.
And yes, haha, cats do get away with it don’t they 🙂
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Thank you! That’s exactly my point! I think it’s kind of like that account in the Gospel of the widow who gave two mites, and she was surrounded by people who gave much more, but what they gave didn’t even affect them because they were so rich. So I think the question is, are we giving all we can? Or do we seem like we’re giving a lot, when we’re really just giving out of our riches?
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Absolutely… it’s not about how much we give is it, but how we give, and our heart attitude towards God in it… That’s such a powerful story!
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A great test would be to look at our lives and compare the faithfulness and trust in God’s word by men like Charles Spurgeon. Now THAT will disturb our complacency: http://spurgeonwarquotes.wordpress.com/
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Good point; we can learn from those who have gone before us.
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