The Destructive Choice of Complacency

Isaiah 32:11

Tremble, ye women that are at ease; be troubled, ye careless ones: strip you, and make you bare, and gird sackcloth upon your loins.

Two bad choices God points out are being at ease and being careless. Both choices are a sign of complacency. God warned about the trouble these choices would bring to their lives. God knew that if people were at ease or careless that they would eventually become complacent.

Many people and churches have hurt their future by becoming complacent. It all starts with easing up on what you are supposed to do, and then becoming careless about the work God wants you to do. These two choices always lead to the destruction of a life or church. Let me point out what being at ease or careless means.

Being at ease means to having no push, no pressure, no vision, and no drive. Being at ease can be easily defined as taking it easy. Nowhere in the Scriptures will you find that being at ease helps a believer to get close to God. Look at what the Scriptures say about being at ease. Amos 6:1 says, Woe to them that are at ease in Zion… Paul said in Philippians 4:19, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. God warns in Proverbs 29:18, Where there is no vision, the people perish… It was the Israelites who were at ease in the valley while Moses was at the top of Mount Sinai that led to backsliding and worshipping a golden calf. David took it easy while everyone else was at the battle, and he ended up committing adultery. The danger of being at ease is that you lose your vision, which results in no drive, which results in no pressure to do right, which leads to sin in your life. The person who wants to live the easy life will NEVER live the Christian life successfully.

Moreover, being careless means to be sloppy, inattentive, and casual. A life of ease always leads to a careless walk. You are a prime target for Satan to destroy you when you live a careless life. 1 Peter 5:8 warns, Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: When you become careless is when you stop being vigilant about the Devil, and that is always detrimental to your Christian walk. The disciples became careless about their prayer lives in the garden, and that led to Peter denying the church, his faith, and his God. Samson became careless about following the LORD’s command for the Nazarite, and it led to Delilah, the little spy of the Philistines, learning his secret of strength, which led to his eventual destruction.

My friend, there is never a good time to be at ease or careless. The church that lets up in the area of soul winning and growth because there is too much pressure will die. There is a reason we put pressure on ourselves and our churches, and that reason is so that we don't become careless. All Satan wants from you is to become careless, because he knows you will let up and want to live a life of ease, the life that always leads to destruction.

Let me challenge you never to let up. Keep the pressure on your life. It is letting up and becoming careless with your walk with God and prayer life that leads to backsliding. It is becoming careless about missing soul winning that leads to no vision and death. Keep the pressure on yourself and you will never become complacent, which means you will never see the death that complacency brings.