Challenging complacency
December 7, 2011
How many times have you heard the Christmas story?
I bet it’s more times than you can count. It certainly is for me.
How many of you are still in awe by the Christmas story? Probably not many.
It’s not hard to be cheerful and giving, but what about changed? Does the Christmas story still move you?
It seems like every year I pray that the story of Jesus’ birth would be made new as if I had never heard it before.
I haven’t gotten there yet.
I’m just thinking through my words here, but why is that?
Do I lack enough faith?
Maybe it’s not the Lord’s timing yet; maybe I have been changed and don’t realize it (If you don’t realize the change then has there been any change?).
I don’t know the answer.
But what I do know is that we can’t be complacent with our understanding of Jesus.
Once we become content with what we think we know, we stop moving forward and begin to drift away from Jesus.
Complacency can be the worst thing that can happen to us.
The pride of thinking that we know everything about God or even that we know just enough can invade the joy we have inside of us; the moment we say that we have had enough and begin living according to the flesh is the moment that we, for lack of a better term, fail.
On a similar note, do Christmas worship songs mean anything to you?
Do you sing them because you have them memorized or because they hold weight?
I admit, I have to try hard to meditate on the lyrics rather than simply sing them mindlessly, but if you think about the words, you will see the wonder in the story.
God has promised to provide for His hungry people.
Jesus says in John that for those who abide in Him (continually), He will give them whatever they ask.
Also, God cannot run out of Himself to give to you, nor will He run out of rewards to bestow on those who persevere in Him.
(On a side note, you can’t out give God. Try it, I dare you.)
So, if God can always give, then why not hunger?
You won’t get fat or look strange.
You might be shunned by some around you, but I challenge everyone to give themselves totally to God and then tell me it wasn’t worth it.
I have trouble giving most of myself to God and I can tell you that there is no one/nothing like our God.
The only question left then is: how do we stir up our hunger for Jesus?
I would always recommend reading the Bible. The Bible has the tendency to stir up controversy and spur on conversation.
Meditate on those questions, ask more questions and follow through with the answers.
Another thing we can do is to pray continually.
If we are in constant communication with God, then we will desire to continue that communication.
Talk about God with other people.
Find out what they believe and discuss it with them.
Be interested in what else is out there. Knowing what other beliefs are out there makes God more special.
I challenge everyone to ask themselves “Am I complacent?” and follow through with that.
