Rejecting Complacency

I recently listened to a homily from Fr. Mike Schmitz where he talked about how comfort breeds complacency.  This is something we’ve probably all heard before.  However, when it comes to our spiritual lives, it can be so easy to fall into this way of living without thinking too much of it.  When we are complacent, it means we are satisfied and not willing to change.  How often do we become comfortable in our lives and feel as if we don’t need to change?  How many times do we take a look within ourselves and think that it is good enough to keep doing the same things?

It’s really easy to tell ourselves that our lives are good the way that they are and that we don’t want them or need them to change.  If we go to mass each Sunday, pray every day, and treat others with kindness, that’s good enough, isn’t it?  That’s what we can sometimes tell ourselves because we are comfortable with our routines and what we are already doing.  However, when we do the same things over and over, we get comfortable, which leads us to become complacent.  And we become complacent, we stop growing and we are not allowing ourselves to be stretched and transformed.  Our faith cannot become deeper when we become comfortable.

Each time we have an encounter with Christ, we must change.  How could we experience Him working in our lives and not go to greater heights?  If we are really following Jesus, we will continually work to become more like Him.  And that means that we will not allow ourselves and our lives to be cushioned by comfort and complacency.  We will work to love those around us better and love those who may be hard for us to love.  We will give more generously and without counting the cost.  We will make more sacrifices, big or small, for others in our lives.  We will serve with love.  We will speak the truth when it is inconvenient and hard.  We will do these things because Jesus has shown us how.  And even if we think we are already doing these things, we must keep working because our lives should look significantly different than those who don’t follow Christ.

If we are not deepening our faith and moving closer to Christ, we might as well be going backwards- losing faith and moving further from Him.  The key to strengthening our faith and deepening our relationship begins with recognizing that we cannot be satisfied with doing the same things over and over and believing that our current habits are good enough.  Otherwise, our faith will stay the same.  
​
My prayer is that we would not become comfortable and content in our daily routines and that our sights would always be set on living lives that reflect Christ.  May we reject complacency and comfort and choose to walk the path that leads us closer to him.