Inside Out: A 40 Day Journey to Transforming Your HeartSample

Complacent Heart --> Thankful Heart

If we are lazy in life, our physical hearts will not be strong and healthy.  Without intentional exercise and perseverance to care about our health, we will have a slow, steady decline in our physical health. We may overlook the daily impact of complacency, but over time, we feel more lethargic, less excited about movement, and comfier lounging on the couch. We become overly content with the current situation and unconcerned about changing it. This can lead to apathy toward our own needs and others' needs around us.  

Complacency happens in our spiritual lives as well. We'd rather watch the action on TV than live the adventure God has for us in real life. We stop reading the Bible. We stop going to church and gathering with other believers. We stop thinking about becoming more like Jesus or how to engage with others around us spiritually. We don't even realize that our laziness is affecting us.  We talk to God less, which means we hear from God less. We stop wondering what God is doing in the lives of the people around us. We begin to see God as distant, unengaged, uncaring, and eventually, pointless.  Zephaniah 1:12 warns us how God sees complacent people. "At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and I will punish the men who are complacent, those who say in their hearts, 'The Lord will not do good, nor will he do ill.'"

Complacency leads to becoming dull in our faith. We lack interest in God, we lack excitement to do His will, and we become less of a light to the world around us. Dull hearts affect our ability to hear God and see what He is doing around us. Matthew 13:15 says, "For this people's heart has grown dull, and with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed, lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears and understand with their heart and turn, and I would heal them." Maybe we still go to church. Maybe we even open our mouths to sing songs. Maybe we say we believe in God, but really, we haven't talked to Him in days or months. Matthew 15:8 warns about this, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." 

How do we get out of our complacency? How do we begin caring again for our spiritual health and the health of those around us? It starts by transforming our complacent hearts into thankful hearts. When we are thankful, we understand that we have been given so much by God. We are relieved that we won't have to experience His wrath. When we are thankful toward God, we remember that God is good, faithful, and worthy of heart-felt praise, despite our circumstances.  

Being thankful with our whole hearts during challenging moments in life also protects us from other sins like grumbling and complaining. "I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me" (Psalm 86:12-13).  When we remember His love and faithfulness throughout our lives, our hearts can trust and rejoice in Him. "I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds" (Psalm 9:1).  This is what makes unbearable circumstances more bearable. 

Our situations become more bearable when we set our mind on God and not on our circumstances. Thanking God despite our current reality is one of the best ways we can glorify Him. It's a significant way to be a witness for Christ.  We show the outside world that truly our salvation is what brings us the greatest hope and deepest joy! "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God" (Psalm 50:23)! It is when we are sincerely thankful that our hearts stop beating in complacency and become fervent for the Lord again. 

Take a Moment:

• Where have you become complacent in your faith?

• In what situation can you be more intentionally thankful?

Prayer:

Heavenly Father, please forgive me for where I have become complacent in my relationship with You. I do not want to be lazy in my faith. Help me to grow in thankfulness for Your love, grace, faithfulness, and abundant blessings, so that my heart focuses on You and not my circumstances. May my thankful heart display to others that my salvation is what brings me hope and joy. Amen.