Christ Warns Against Complacency

The incarnate Son of God commands us to give allegiance totally to him.

By Deacon Frederick Bartels
18 July 2017

Complacency is often defined as a feeling of pleasure or security, perhaps entailing smug satisfaction with oneself, while unaware of, or intentionally indifferent to, some potential defect or danger. It is often the case that complacency is manifested in a dismissive attitude in the face of some known but neglected critical situation that demands our attention.

Complacency toward Christ can lead people to relegate the status of God in their lives and lose their sense of dependency on him. It can cause a gradual loss of faith through an increase in the sin of pride, which is at the root of all evil. Additionally, complacency with respect to Christ and his Church is an evangelization killer. It prevents Catholics from communicating the essential importance, beauty and goodness of faith in Christ and the necessity of his Church to others out of carelessness. Ultimately, it fosters the grave sin of idolatry.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the first commandment forbids idolatry in the form of polytheism, the pagan worship of false gods. Polytheism is false because there is only one God whose divine sovereignty extends over all creatures—over all created things. Catholics and other Christians believe according to divine revelation that God is one and Tripersonal, a Trinity of Divine Persons, which I will leave aside here. But idolatry is not constituted only by pagan worship of multiple gods:

Idolatry not only refers to false pagan worship. It remains a constant temptation to faith. Idolatry consists in divinizing what is not God. Man commits idolatry whenever he honors and reveres a creature in place of God, whether this be gods or demons (for example, satanism), power, pleasure, race, ancestors, the state, money, etc. Jesus says, “You cannot serve God and mammon.” Many martyrs died for not adoring “the Beast” refusing even to simulate such worship. Idolatry rejects the unique Lordship of God; it is therefore incompatible with communion with God. (CCC 2113)

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus Christ, who is perfectly God and man, warns against complacency toward God and reminds us that we must give total allegiance to him. Our commitment to Christ must exceed all others. He tells the apostles:

Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s foes will be those of his own household. He who loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and he who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it. (Mt 10:34-39)

It is often the case today that many Catholics and other Christians, in interacting with others and the world, operate on this false principle: all that God wants is merely for everyone to be tolerant of others, nice, fair, and to get along well together. Consequently, authentic evangelization and presentation of the gospel message is often left out for the sake of avoiding potential arguments. The belief of the Church, which is essential to human development and fostering the common good, is absent from interpersonal dialogue and the public square.

It is also often the case that Catholics refrain from speaking what is morally true to friends, family, coworkers and others in order to avoid confrontation, misunderstanding or hurt feelings under pretense of unity. The underlying strategy here is often claimed to be based on “building bridges, not burning them.”

However, building bridges presumes we will cross them. It is incumbent upon every Catholic to live by what is true and communicate that same truth to others and to society. If truth is withheld, there is little point in building bridges. Further, the principle of human dignity affords people the right to hear, learn and come to know what is true. For example, authentic charity seeks the true benefit of neighbor—whether it be family or others or the common good itself. This means a Christian is primarily concerned with the spiritual and eternal well-being of others and humankind collectively. This presumes a communication of the saving truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ must occur.

The exercise of prudence in our interaction with others and our efforts to evangelize culture and infuse the world with the saving principles of the gospel is, of course, important. We should build relationships in order to afford opportunities to communicate the good news of salvation and truth of Jesus Christ. We are called not out of culture and the world but to live in it, while yet not belonging or conforming to it, that society may be transformed and elevated by the activities of the body of Christ, the Church, whose life is sustained and guided by the Spirit of Peace and Love. The Catholic mission is a transformative enterprise that includes a transcendent dimension: it is a work of participation in the salvific mission of the Redeemer of humankind, who, as God made man, has raised men to the heavenly heights.

Nevertheless, it must always be remembered that building relationships and bridges has but one ultimate purpose: the salvation of all in Christ. The words the Savior of humanity spoke to his apostles remind us all that following Christ will bring confrontation, misunderstanding, persecution and division:

“Do not think that I have come to bring peace on earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.”

Christ’s words in Matthew’s gospel lead to these questions: Do I love Christ above all else? Is my life a complete gift of self to him? Do I, for love of Christ, experience a compelling desire to risk friendship, confrontation, division and misunderstanding for the sake of communicating my allegiance to him and his Church? Is God’s plan of truth and love more important to me than what people think of me? Do I intentionally refrain from articulating the necessity, uniqueness and salvific importance of the Catholic Church to others? Do I prefer to hide behind a generic, secularized Christianity, devoid of changeless principles and lacking conviction for the truth?

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Mt 5:6).

The contemporary danger is this: if as Catholics we have become complacent, if we are merely “going along to get along” out of fear of division, hurt feelings or governed by false tolerance, then we lack the courage which the Spirit gives and we have in fact laid down the cross of Christ. If we have allowed smug satisfaction with the way things are to silence our voice of truth in indifference to the critical situation of culture and the potential danger people face in living apart from God, we have departed from the Gospel and from love of Christ himself. To withhold the saving gospel of truth under pretense of unity is to lend support to error and, potentially, to the eternal loss of souls.

Loving God above all else for his sake means losing your way of life for Christ: “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 10:39).

Christ’s peace.

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Photo Credit: Deacon Frederick Bartels. All rights reserved.