Are you striving like Paul to obtain Christ ‘if, by any means’? Or have you been overtaken by the desire for a little sleep and a little slumber?
Written by
Drawing the Well's Water
4 min read
The first time I heard of the word “complacent” was when I was in primary five and my math teacher had given out our marked assessment papers. She chided the class,
“Some of you have grown complacent. You thought that you were very good at this subject so you were careless and I can tell that you didn’t put in much effort!”
Complacency is a dangerous state to fall into because you don’t realise that you are in danger.
It is like seeing the tsunami waves coming but brushing them off saying, “I’ll be fine, the waves aren’t that big, plus I know how to swim.”
Why do we grow complacent?
Complacency stems from a desire to remain comfortable. To avoid doing more.
That is why complacency often manifests in laziness and a lack of careful effort, be it in our secular work or in our faith.
We may think: It's human nature to want to be comfortable, this isn’t that big a deal. But Paul provides us with a different perspective: complacency is a slippery slope to becoming an enemy of the cross (Phil 3:18). Why does Paul make such a dramatic claim?
To such believers, the Bible warns: “whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things” (Phil 3:19).
When we are complacent, we are no longer truly serving God, but instead we are serving ourselves. That’s what Paul means in saying our belly becomes our god. We cut corners to appeal to our own desires, using our own standards for what is right and wrong rather than God’s standard.
For example, we might say, “I keep the Sabbath well because I’ve always attended all the Sabbath services”. But we overlook the fact that in-between services, be it at home or in church, we are scrolling through social media on our phones and catching up on missed episodes of our favourite show. God’s command of keeping the Sabbath was not just to attend services, but also to turn away from doing our own pleasures and from our own ways (Isa 58:13).
Moreover, in our complacency, we tend to look to our past glories, achievements, and status (Phil 3:4-6), and use them as a reason to proudly give ourselves a pat on the back saying “I am a holy and righteous person.” But in our complacency, these glories become our shame. Why? Because they become a source of pride– our confidence in the flesh (Phil 3:3).
Whether in our service or our accomplishments, we must recognise and remember that unless the Lord helped, we would have worked in vain (Ps 127:1). These past glories should be a reflection of God’s mercy and grace, not our ability and strength.
Hence, Paul encourages us to forget those things which are behind us and instead reach forward to the things which are ahead (Phil 3:13). How we performed in the past is neither an indication of how well we will do in the future nor a guarantee of our salvation. It is just as Jesus said: “He who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matt 24:13).
How can I guard against complacency?
Paul sets an example for us by being willing to count all things loss in order to gain Christ (Phil 3:7-8).
His “none of self, all of Thee” attitude reflected his deep understanding of what it meant to be a follower of Christ: gaining Christ was the most precious thing he could obtain in this life because only through Christ can we attain the resurrection from the dead (Phil 3:11). Next to Christ, all the comforts and glories of the world could amount to nothing more than rubbish (Phil 3:8).
It is only when we willingly place ourselves in uncomfortable positions for Christ that we can truly know Jesus better (Phil 3:10). We will be able to turn the head knowledge of “Christ suffered for me” into an understanding from the heart.
No one enjoys being uncomfortable. Yet, as Paul reminds us: we must rejoice in the Lord (Phil 3:1). When our joy comes from the Lord, then, like Paul, we can understand how much more precious Christ is than any comfort of the world.
Reflection questions:
Have I fallen into a state of complacency in my faith?
What is one way I can step out of my comfort zone for Jesus Christ this week?
How much of my joy come from my relationship with the God of my salvation, versus the world’s material comforts? (Hab 3:18)
