“Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth. Acute desire must be present or there will be no manifestation of Christ to His people. He waits to be wanted. Too bad that with many of us He waits so long, so very long, in vain.”
-A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine
Jesus loves you just as you are,
but too much to leave you there.
Spiritual complacency is a dangerous spiritual condition. It leaves us vulnerable to the spiritual dangers around us. It leads to apathy and sometimes outright rejection of Christ and His Word.
Jim Renke, 4 Signs of Spiritual Complacency, June 11, 2019
“I [Jesus] know you inside and out, and find little to my liking. You’re not cold,
you’re not hot— far better to be either cold or hot! You’re stale. You’re stagnant. You make me want to vomit. You brag, ‘I’m rich, I’ve got it made, I need nothing from anyone,’ oblivious that in fact you’re a pitiful, blind beggar, threadbare and homeless.
Revelation 3:15-17 The Message (MSG)
RENKE’S 4 SIGNS OF COMPLACENY
1.We view ourselves higher than what God determines to be true.
He told his next story to some who were complacently pleased with themselves over their moral performance and looked down their noses at the common people: “Two men went up to the Temple to pray, one a Pharisee, the other a tax man. The Pharisee posed and prayed like this: ‘Oh, God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, crooks, adulterers, or, heaven forbid, like this tax man. I fast twice a week and tithe on all my income.’
“Meanwhile the tax man, slumped in the shadows, his face in his hands, not daring to look up, said,
‘God, give mercy. Forgive me, a sinner.’”
Jesus commented, “This tax man, not the other, went home made right with God. If you walk around with your nose in the air, you’re going to end up flat on your face, but if you’re content to be simply yourself, you will become more than yourself.”
Luke 18:9-14 (MSG)
2. We live in an attitude of self-sufficiency.
Trust God from the bottom of your heart; don’t try to figure out everything on your own. Listen for God’s voice in everything you do, everywhere you go; he’s the one who will keep you on track.
Proverbs 3:5-6 (MSG)
3. We are comfortable in the culture in which we live.
Sometimes it feels like I’m watching from the outside
Sometimes it feels like I’m breathing but am I alive
I won’t keep searching for answers that aren’t here to find
All I know is I’m not home yet; this is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus; This is not where I belong
Building 429 Jason Ingram | Jason Roy © 2010
Spirit Nashville Three; Be Essential Songs; Havery Publishing; So Essential Tunes; Spirit Nashville Three
Don’t love the world’s ways. Don’t love the world’s goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world—wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important—has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out—but whoever does what God wants is set for eternity.
4. We are spiritually satisfied without real spiritual awareness.
This is no weekend war that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels.
Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an
indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.
Ephesians 6:12-18 (MSG)
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
PSALM 100 NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION (NIV)