Avoiding Spiritual Complacency

We all know someone who thinks that the world revolves around them. Woe to the woman who meets the man who thinks he is God's gift to women and is hideous! Woe to the man at work who is forced to work with the guy who believes the office could not continue without him! We understand that this is arrogance, and that this is not right, but how did these people get to this point? Some may be delusional, but by in large this arrogance is born from a feeling of complacency.

Complacency is defined by Webster as "self-satisfaction accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers or deficiencies." This attitude is clearly prevalent in many people and even groups of people today. Could we not use the United States as an example, who is the lone superpower of the world yet watched helplessly as thousands of its own died because of a small group of terrorists? Complacency is a great danger, for disappointment and suffering almost inevitably come with it.

When we examine the Scriptures, we see that one of the chief attitudes that have led to apostasy from God has been complacency. Complacent attitudes have even led to the origin of sin on Earth, with Eve being tempted in the Garden by Satan (Genesis 3:3-7). God had given her and Adam anything they would need, leading no doubt to a feeling of complacency. And who was there to exploit that complacency? Satan!

The history of Israel is full of examples of complacent attitudes and the inevitable apostasy to follow. Let us read a synopsis of the period of the Judges in Judges 2:10-23: