1. Contentment is not complacency. Don’t confuse the two. Contentment is peace with any situation. Complacency is to pretend that a danger or defect in a situation doesn’t exist. One is a disposition of the heart the other is a denial of impending harm.
“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”
Philippians 4:12 NIV
When Paul writes this letter to the church in Philippi he is experiencing his own “quarantine” because he is in prison.
What we learn is that isolation or quarantine can teach us contentment. Notice that Paul says he has “learned the secret of being content.” Perhaps this is because contentment isn’t something that we can default to. Contentment is a discipline while complacency is a default.
Complacency is dangerous because it suggests that you see potential danger or harm and attempt to disassociate yourself from it by distracting yourself with the dissolution that things are just fine.
“Just fine” is not faith. In fact “just fine” is often a faith killer.
Contentment on the other hand brings peace you acknowledge the reality while simultaneously acknowledging God’s ability to sustain you in all circumstances.
2020 has taught me the delicate balance between contentment and complacency. It’s taught me that I don’t have to be unaware of trouble but I can be unbothered by it.
-Pastor L
