At the writing of this, America is defending its freedoms against an aggressive nation, Iran. As the intel comes out, it seems Iran was posing itself for a preemptive strike on United States interests across the region. Having shunned all negotiations from the US and others, Iran was building a missile defense so strong that, as it pursued a nuclear weapon, it would be almost impossible to stop them with the defenses.
Each side can argue its point, but the question is: how do we handle the intel we have just found?
America chose to attack first before they had the chance to do us serious harm if they chose to attack us. The question that has lost so many wars is the word complacency. This is when a person just sits back and leaves everything up to chance.
Though history will declare the outcome, the reason for the first strike was that there was no complacency at the helm. There was a diligent, focused resolve to defend the United States’ interests here and abroad.
How would the conversation be if Iran had been able to suddenly launch an attack against our bases and interests, and we knew it was going to happen, and we did nothing to preempt it? What could be the death toll?
The Spiritual Danger of Complacency
So often, we are more appeasers than warriors. We are at times too willing to be complacent, thinking nothing will happen, and trust everything to chance and kick the can down the road. When we do this, we pay the price for our inaction.
Then we attempt to play the blame game, at God, Man, leaders, the devil, and so on.
We, as believers, are in a spiritual fight, just as nations are in physical fights for their freedom, sovereignty, and strength. We are warned in scripture of the outcome of being complacent at the wheel of our lives. Nations fall because leaders are lazy. People lose a lot because of laziness and a spirit of complacency.
Proverbs 1:32 states,
“The complacency of fools will destroy them.”
The writer warns of the consequences of not heeding God’s warnings. It speaks of despising His counsel and not listening to the rebukes that come. And in the end, it leads them to destruction.
How many people have heard the warnings of the gospel time after time as they move forward in life? Suddenly, death shows up. They have treated all the warnings, testimonies, and witnesses, and, in that lazy fashion, taken the risk with their eternity. In the end, they pay the price.
Proverbs 10:4 states,
“He who has a slack hand becomes poor.”
When we apply no diligence to our lives and work, we end up with nothing. In both these scriptures, we see the outcome of laziness. The attitude of not being prepared can cost us everything.
In Amos 6:1, in a warning to the nation for its complacency toward the prophets’ warnings, Amos speaks:
“Woe to you who are at ease in Zion, and trust in Mount Samaria.”
Ignoring God and trusting in ourselves, or simply others, is foolish and lazy. Acting like nothing will happen sets us up for failure, judgment, and loss. Diligence is the opposite of complacency. Being alert at all times allows us to be prepared for action.
Stay Alert to the Enemy
There are some things that we as believers need to always be alert to. Keeping ourselves focused on the devil’s strategies is our priority.
Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:11:
“Lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices”.
Paul understood that Satan is a schemer. He is always looking for our weaknesses, and when we get into a place of complacency about his strategies, He will move to trip us up and keep us distracted from our calling.
Your effectiveness for the kingdom of God is paramount to the success of the gospel message.
Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:3-4:
“But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing, whose minds the god of this world has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them.”
The devil has already veiled the world from the message. Our responsibility is to shine as lights to this lost and dying world so that they will see the face of Christ in our lives. (Philippians 2:15).
We have a mandate to live a life worthy of the gospel that we preach; (Philippians 1:27-28; and Colossians 1:9-10). In this mandate we must always remain vigilant and focused, less an attitude of complacency causes us to fall short of the calling and even lose our place in the kingdom of God.
Revelation 2:5 states;
“Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.”
Revelation 3:1-3 states,
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works perfect before God. Remember therefore how you have received and heard; hold fast and repent. Therefore, if you will not watch, I will come upon you as a thief, and you will not know what hour I will come upon you.”
Six Key Areas of Focus
To accomplish the calling that God has on our lives, both individually and collectively as the church, we must focus on six key areas.
First: Stay in the Race
1 Corinthians 9:24 states, “Do you know that those that run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?”
Recognize that your life is a marathon. It is one meant to win, but the only way is to stay in the race. Staying focused and alert to the dangers that can lurk in the race keeps us safe and on the path.
Our victory is in front of us, and we only reach the victory when we stay in the race and strive toward the finish line. Complacency will cause you to stop, sit, and disqualify you from the prize.
Stay on your feet, stay focused on the race, and keep moving forward. You’re called to win.
Second: Remain in Fellowship
Hebrews 10:21-25 states, “and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Complacency in our walk with God leads to backsliding. The world constantly tugs at our old nature. Today, sin abounds, and the love of many grows cold (Matthew 24:12).
In God’s presence, we can always rely on our High Priest to intercede, and through His grace, we hold fast our confession of hope. Remaining in fellowship with other believers strengthens us, as Acts 2:42 says:
“And they continued steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and the breaking of bread and in prayer.”
Fellowship keeps our spiritual fire burning and helps stir us to good works. Complacency keeps us from staying in fellowship—many feel no need for church and have grown lax in attending. Online church replaces gathering, then is neglected, leading to stagnation as complacency takes over.
Third: Be Vigilant Against the Devil
1 Peter 5:8-9 states,
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.”
As we walk in fellowship together, we must always be on the alert to the devil’s attacks and strategies. Peter tells us to remain clear-headed, focused, and diligent in our surroundings and in the face of temptations.
The devil is looking for weaknesses in our armor that he can get through and cause our downfall. Our time in the Word and in prayer places us in a position to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit, warning us of any attack that might be coming.
Matthew 6:13 in the Prayer “The Our Father”, Jesus states,
“And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
This is not just a prayer to recite, but it is a counter-prayer strategy from heaven to declare over our lives.
Fourth: Maintain Good Works
Titus 3:13-14 states,
“Send Zenas the lawyer and Apollos on their journey with haste, that they may lack nothing and let our people also learn to maintain good works, to meet urgent needs, that they may not be unfruitful.”
The success of the gospel requires constant diligence to the needs that are present. If we become complacent, then the message is not funded, and the workers’ needs are not met.
Paul reminds Titus that the church must stay focused on these urgent needs to keep the message going forward. So often, the necessary work of the ministry goes unanswered because we forget to stay in the fight and grow slack in our dealings with the missions and missionaries who are working so effectively to spread the gospel.
When we step back, their needs go unmet, and the message stalls. Souls are always at stake, and our remaining diligence in the matter keeps us in the fight, strengthened and fruitful in the work.
Fifth: Put On the Armor of God
Ephesians 6:10-12;18-19 states,
“Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel,”
Spiritual warfare is not a game that we play. It is as real and even more so than the battles that we face as nations against our enemies.
There is a genuine host of evil that is at war with the church and every believer. The kingdom of darkness is non-stop in its purpose to disrupt the advancement of the kingdom of God. You and I are targets of his assaults because of the light in us, and the message that moves and compels us.
We are called to do two things:
First, put on the whole armor of God in every facet. As a soldier going into battle wears everything he possesses in armor to defend and advance against all hostilities against him, we are called to wear the whole confidence of God that we possess in Christ as we move forward as believers.
Second, we are to maintain a constant vigilance in all types of prayers and intercessions for all saints, as well as for the advancement of the gospel.
Complacency in this is the biggest reason for the failure of believers’ lives, and why the gospel message is so often stalled and not advancing, and at times losing ground.
We are called to remain steadfast and immovable in the faith, so as Jesus said in Matthew 16:18,
“And also I say unto you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it”.
It is in who Jesus is, and on this rock of who He is and our faith in Him, He will build an unstoppable church. We are called to believe it, and remain clothed in the armor of God and stay the course, knowing the victory is ours because the battle is the Lord’s.
Proverbs 21:31 states,
“The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but deliverance is of the Lord.”
2 Chronicles 20:15 states,
“And he said, ‘Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem, and you, King Jehoshaphat! Thus says the Lord to you: ‘Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.”
Sixth: Know That the Time Is Short
There is an urgent mandate to be conscious of the fact that the day of Christ’s returning is getting closer.
Romans 13:11-14 states,
“And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.”
Paul was most aware that Christ’s return could happen at any time. Though we see that the thousand years have passed, the urgency of knowing this kept Paul moving forward, looking to the skies for Christ’s return.
Every generation of believers must be moved by this scripture, because each generation has only a short time before they are suddenly standing before God as their lives on earth come to an end.
Matthew 24:37-39 states,
“But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”
Complacency in our lives, as believed, could cost millions of people the chance to hear the gospel before the return of Christ. The day for each individual draws closer with every sunrise. Our lives serve as a stopgap for all the souls placed in our paths. The devil seeks out and thrives on our complacency in various areas of our lives. Using these, he will do all he can to stop the great work of the great commission.
“Go into all the world and preach the gospel.” Mark 16:15
Ephesians 2:10 states,
“We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in.”
Let’s rise up as believers, cast off the works of darkness, and the power of complacency. Let us put on the armor of God, stand steadfast shoulder to shoulder as the saints of God, and drive forward knowing we are truly invested with unstoppable authority and power so we can advance an unstoppable kingdom.
Our Call to Action:
1. Personal Response
Examine Your Spiritual Life Today
Take a moment to honestly evaluate your walk with God. Are there areas where complacency has crept in—prayer, fellowship, evangelism, or time in the Word? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything that has grown cold, and commit today to rekindle your diligence and devotion to Christ.
2. Practical Action
Strengthen Your Spiritual Discipline
Choose one practical step today to stay spiritually alert—spend intentional time in prayer, open the Word of God, reconnect with your church community, or reach out to someone who needs to hear the gospel. Small acts of faithfulness keep us vigilant and effective in the kingdom of God.
3. Share the Message
Help Wake Others Up
Complacency is one of the enemy’s greatest tools. If this message challenged or encouraged you, share it with someone else who may need the reminder to stay watchful and steadfast in their faith. Together we can strengthen the body of Christ and advance the gospel in these urgent days.
