Intro

This blog is supposed to be, as much as I can, my daily journey through life as a Christian. I hope it to be my thoughts and feelings on life but be as grounded in the Christian message as it can. My intention is not to create a daily readings or bible study guide but to look at my life in terms of a Christian trying to find and follow God's mission using his Life User's Manuel AKA the Bible.

Matthew 10 19-20

And don't you worry about what you'll say or how you'll say it. The right words will be there; the Spirit of your Father will supply the words. - Matthew 10 19-20

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Complacent Christianity

This is on of the big traps that many Christians fall in to. I am as guilty of it as the next person. We have a life changing experience with God, we meet Jesus for the first time or in a new way and we start doing things differently. We pray more ardently, we read our Bibles frequently and generally live our lives in the way that we have been shown. However as time goes on we become comfortable with the way we are doing things, then slowly over time life erodes our resolve. One day we pray a little less due to time constraints, or we skip reading the bible because we have a headache or another similar excuse. Whatever it is we become complacent over time to the point where we think that because we are doing some things well its ok if we skip one day, we can have a day off because we are a good Christian and we deserve it.

Complacency does not make us a bad Christian, but it does lead us away from the path we should be walking. We are all going to struggle to do everything we should all the time, that is because we are human. Jesus died so that we could be forgiven for our sins and short comings. Even so we still need to work hard to do all that we should do. We should be aware that complacency is going to be something we will come across many times in life. We should be aware that many times due to it we are going to come up short, fail and act in unchristian ways. By being aware of this we can combat its effects in our lives. We are never going to be able to erase it from our lives but we can work hard to minimise its effects.

The reason I decided to post on this is because I have been so busy recently that many things I should have been doing have fallen by the wayside. I have reasoned to myself that due to the reason for my business is my working hard to follow God's plans in my life I am being a good Christian. When the truth is that I am missing out some of the things that should be core to my life, my Bible study has dwindled and my time alone with God has been reduced significantly. The times I have "spent" with God have been shoehorned in while doing other things like driving to work. As a result of this I am again feeling stressed and angry in a way I have not for months. The peace God had brought to my life is beginning to evaporate. I know what the problems are and I know how to fix them. Having realised where my problems lie I can tackle them head on.

Complacent Christianity is something we are all going to suffer from at times, but knowing this gives us a much better chance of spotting it and fixing it quickly. I would never accuse anyone of suffering from it, but I would like to say I believe it is worth us all checking ourself for the signs regularly.

4 comments:

  1. I definitely agree! It slips in so quietly, and then it makes itself at home.

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  2. It is so easy for it to creep in without realising. It is easier to become a sufferer than it is to fix the problem, but nothing is impossible through God.

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  3. Maybe it's not so much complacent christianity but forgetful?

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  4. Once or twice is forgetful yes, but when it leads to a habit of not praying or whatever even if it is not complacency it is still not a good thing.

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