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I want to share five wise statements with you. Each of these are things I’ve heard or read and they stuck with me. They make me think about my priorities and my time management and they reinforce some disciplines I need in my life, so I thought they might be helpful to you as well.
I heard a preacher say this recently: Kill complacency or it will kill you. Short and pithy—but oh so true. Complacency can be a killer. Complacency is not laziness, although if you are complacent, it could cause you to be lazy. But rather a complacent person is a self-satisfied person. When you are complacent you can be rather smug and uncritical of yourself.
The Apostle Paul wrote to young Timothy:
For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline (2Timothy 1:6-7).
The reason that Paul referred to was Timothy’s heritage. His mother and grandmother had fostered Timothy’s faith because of their sincere faith and now Paul was mentoring him and advising him. And he reminds Timothy not to be complacent. He notes that God had gifted him but it was his job to fan that gift into a flame.
Years ago, I wrote this passage in my prayer journal and began to pray that God would show me how to fan into a flame the gift of God in me. To not be satisfied with just being okay; to not settle for getting by. But to refuse to be complacent and content where I was in my spiritual growth.
If you’ve been born again, you’ve been given the Spirit of God indwelling you, and that Spirit gives you power, love and self-discipline. Self-discipline is a fruit of the Spirit and when you are self-disciplined, you will not be complacent.
So, my first wise thought is: Kill complacency or it will kill you. It will kill your self-discipline, your love for God and others and it will kill God’s power in you. Rather, fan into a flame the gift of God in you—whatever it is. Get better at it all the time. Kill complacency or it will kill you.