Complacency

Complacency is self-satisfaction that totally disregards possible negative consequences. It is self-gratification and presumptuousness that causes one to act with unwarranted boldness. It also means to suppose without knowing. Complacency is another manifestation of the spirit of apathy.

2 Peter 2:9-10

9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:

10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government. Presumptuous are they, self willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.

COMPLACENCY HINDERS THE PROGRESSION OF MINISTRY

Many in the Body are satisfied with their spiritual responsibilities in ministry. However, the Lord may desire to increase that responsibility. For example, you may be a teacher and are very comfortable as such. Yet, this may not be your permanent station in God. He may have purposed for you to be a pastor. If you are complacent, you will reject this attempt of the Holy Ghost to progress your ministry. Rejection of the truth that comes to reveal God’s purpose for your life is unbelief. This unbelief will cause you to refuse any real change in your spiritual location. You may be satisfied to have accomplished the do’s and don'ts of attending church. However, it is the will of the Father for you to become active in the lives of His people.

A good example of this can be seen in a most recent encounter I had with one of the members of our ministry. She is a single mom with a small boy. She began to notice that some of the behavioral attributes of her son were a little too feminine for her not to be concerned. She attributed this to the lack of male influence in the child’s life. Subsequently, she reached out to a number of the brethren in the ministry who assured her they understood and would take the child under their wings and install the much needed male influence. She spoke to those who had young boys about the age of her son and begged to allow him to interact with them as much as possible. Once again, she was assured this would happen.

Finally, she went to her local leadership and voiced the same concerns. According to her, the response was, “you must trust God with your child.” Finally, she came to the realization that sadly the saints are in their own worlds with their own issues. There was no help for her in this ministry. She realized that she had no family there and in spite of her reluctance to depart the ministry and return home, she felt that she must think of her child's well-being. She thought that at least when she returned home she would have a support system made up of family members who could help. Eventually, she resigned from her position in the ministry in order to have more time to find neighborhood clubs and little league programs that she could enroll her child in. As a result of this she felt that she was judged as carnal minded and just not trusting God for her child’s well being.

No one seemed to be sensitive to her concerns for the child, even though there had been at least two other cases of the same nature in which the boys were overtaken by effeminacy. No one would help her and she felt the people around her condemned her for trying to help herself. Needless to say, this mother had become very frustrated with the ministry and that frustration soon turned to anger and all she wanted to do was get away from it all. While sitting before the Lord in study, He instructed me to stop and call this mother immediately. I obeyed. As we talked, I found that she had judged her spiritual environment to be hypocritical in that the response to her cry for help was not what was being ministered.

I gave her the counsel of the Lord and we began to seek a viable solution to her problems. Immediately some may say, 'Mary, that is a one-sided account of the story', and indeed it is. Granted the young mother’s mind and heart may have gone places it should not have. Even if the story is not altogether factual or even a complete fabrication, let us simply use its availability to rehearse the principles the Father is trying to reveal here. ·

A mother has the right to be concerned about the well-being of her child. She has the right to seek out help from her brothers in the Lord. She should be able to expect some effort in response to her distress. Trusting God does not relieve us of our parental responsibilities. Trusting God does not relieve the ministry of its obligation to the fatherless. Oftentimes, we are preoccupied with trying to get to a deeper place in God, until we miss the stairway He places before us.

Our complacency or indifference towards a situation could send a perverted message to those who have need of our ministry in their lives. To assist in natural things is a part of ministry which can become more powerful than preaching from a pulpit. Over the years, I have seen many lives saved and taken off a collision course destruction simply by opening up my home to Satan’s would-be victims. Therefore, we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip (Hebrews 2:1).

Philippians 2:3-4

3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem each other better than themselves.

4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.

Let us not be found lacking in our concern for the disposition of others. We must be willing to meet sinners in the depths of their sin and we must certainly stand in readiness to meet the saints in their times of despair. We must be mindful of their spiritual needs and not deal with them in places we would like them to be, but meet them where they are lest they faint and fall prey to iniquity. The spirit of complacency entreats a cry for help or untimely ministry as inconvenient intrusions or disruptions to its self-gratifying lifestyle. But this attitude is dangerous as it denies Christ the opportunity to love His people through us.

St. Matthew 5:20

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

This is not the time to become complacent. This is a day of provocation. The Lord is prodding us to move into the mind of Christ. Let us not become presumptuous and refuse to change as the Spirit demands. We cannot become satisfied in past accomplishments.

The Spirit of God is always seeking to carry us to deeper depths in God. In Revelation 3, we learn that to be complacent is to be a lukewarm church. It is a church that is satisfied with its attainments. We are not that church. We hear the Word of the Lord and we will take heed to it. Furthermore, we will strive to be zealous, fervent, earnest and eager to move with the Holy Ghost in the saving of souls.