Complacency vs. Intentionality
Tonight my son’s having a party and he has invited his whole pledge class. He’s in a Christian-type fraternity, just so you have the right picture in your head, and they’re all bringing dates. And I’m pretty sure my son is cooking for them, which he does all the time. My son tells me all the time that the problem with his generation is complacency. His goal in life is to never live a complacent day in his life. He can not sit still and he wants to live life to the fullest, and I love that about him. He is very entertaining and he’s caused a lot of trouble, but also a lot of good.
I believe the opposite of complacency is intentionality. I want to start with a verse from Galatians 5:13: “You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.” I would add “to be lazy” right after the word flesh. Why? Because I believe it is a temptation of our generation to check out and to numb out. We’re bombarded with too many problems, and we don’t know what to do about it or how to help. So we pull back and watch Netflix and get online and zone out. I think we can interchange the words complacent and lazy. Complacency sounds neutral, but we know laziness isn’t good.
The enemy is getting to us by overwhelming us to the point that we don’t participate in this big story, because there’s too much to do. My husband says the definition of leadership is taking initiative for the good of others. We have to reject passivity and lean into the needs around us. That moves our mind to ones that are set on us, to now set on God and other people. Hebrews 12 says “let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith.” I believe what happens is those things occur simultaneously. As we run the race set before us, our eyes have to be on Jesus because we need him, and the sin and weight fall off because we’re busy and we’ve got a mission and we’re tired and running after God! The idea of mission and intentionality and leading and loving well feels big to us. It feels unknowable to us. It feels like we’re not equipped for it. But as we get on the track and off the sidelines, you can’t believe how much of your sin and weight falls of you.
You don’t have time to think about yourself. You don’t have time to think about your problems. You don’t have time to be a victim. You don't have time to sit around and feel sorry for yourself. But you do have time for God, because you need him. You’re actually taking risk, you’re nervous, you don’t know what’s about to happen, and you’re praying for miracles for you and for your friend’s lives. There’s a movement in your life that is God centered and God propelled, but it requires our initiative to participate. God built us with choice. We have a choice to participate. Science would tell you that you want to subconsciously please yourself. You want to feed every desire you have, take care of yourself, and make sure you’re okay. But the brains that don’t do that - who spend their lives serving others - are actually the healthiest brains. Those are the ones that are thriving.
Consistently serving others reduces stress and develops a deeper connection to the people in your life. People who live with purpose sleep better and they live longer. This is science. Our brains are made to serve others. So subconsciously you might want to watch Netflix your whole life, but that won’t make you happy. That’s not how we’re built.
So many times in my life I have been pulled out of complacency simply because a lot has been given to me and a lot is expected of me. I would love to have the freedom to serve my flesh. That sounds good to me on a lot of days. But the truth is, I have deadlines, I have people that need me, I have a meeting to get to, I have an organization to run, and those things propel me out of bed and away from Netflix. The times in my life I’ve taken too long of a break, I start to get selfish. I start internet shopping for shoes. When I don’t have enough to do I get selfish, complacent, lazy, and materialistic.
So here’s what we’re going to do: I want you to take inventory of your thought life for a minute. How many of your thoughts in the last 20 minutes were about yourself in some form or fashion? Your feelings, your frustrations, your worries, your doubts, or your fears. Most of you were probably thinking about yourself for the last 20 minutes, myself included. The antidote for this is service. It’s getting in the game and getting off the sidelines.
Some of you might be thinking, “What does it look like to use my gifts? I don’t know what I’m good at. I don’t know what God wants me to do.” There is a need right in front of you. You don’t have to go find some mysterious calling or mission field. It’s right where you are. What is the need in your neighborhood? What is the need in your kids friend’s lives? What is the need in your kids? What is the need in your marriage? What is the need in your friends’ lives? Look in front of you and meet the need. Most of us don’t wake up in the morning wanting to serve other people (unless you’re an enneagram 2) but it’s really delightful to help people. It’s the best way to live. When we serve others, we see that there’s a greater plan for our lives that’s bigger than building a comfortable life.
Some of you might be getting to the end of this series and think, “I’m still thinking negative thoughts!” You know what you’re doing now that you didn’t before? Noticing them. Prior to this, you probably weren’t. We were just victims to our minds. When we start to notice, we can start to see patterns that maybe we didn’t know were there. And then we can start to fight it. We have these weapons we’ve been talking about: service, gratitude, stillness with God, connection, trust, and delight. These are the weapons God has given us to fight the enemies of our mind. We don't have to submit to the enemy of our mind anymore. If we are children of God, we have power over it.
A healthy mind is a contagious one, just like a toxic mind is a contagious one. When you’re around someone whose mind is fixed on Christ, whose mind loves, whose mind serves intentionally, you want to be around them. You want to be like them. A mind that will change the world is one that is fixed on Christ. He has given us himself. God is in you. He is shifting you. He loves you. And he’s fighting for you. He wants to see you take greater strides fot eh Kingdom of God.
