COMPLACENCY
AS WE HAVE SEEN, the mark of the fool is to be wise in his own eyes. This leads to the deadly spiritual condition of smug complacency. There is nothing more foolish than to think you have life under control when it is not controllable. The classic example is Jesus' parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:19-20). No matter what type of designer life you think you have put together for yourself, bereavement, illness, betrayal, and financial disaster happen to everyone. No amount of wealth, success, power or planning can make you impervious to them.
Fools live in a dream of metaphysical self-sufficience. They think they have everything sorted, and the complacency leads to disaster. But the opposite of complacency----anxiety---is no solution. We can lose our overconfidence and still be at ease, without fear if we remember that we have the omnipotent, sovereign Lord of the universe as our father. Christians also remind their hearts that if God did not spare us his own Son, how will he not give us whatever we need (Romans 8:32)?
If things are going pretty well for you, are you getting complacent? If things are not going well, are you getting anxious? How can you avoid both?
PRAYER: Lord, I have been so often whiplashed back and forth between thinking I have everything under control and feeling panic that everything is out of control. Neither is the case. You are in control, and until I rest in that, I'll be a miserable fool. Amen.
---Timothy and Kathy Keller, God's Wisdom For Navigating Life, A Year of Daily Devotions in the Book of Proverbs, Page 16
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