Complacency is a deadly foe of all spiritual growth
A.W. Tozer, Pursuit of God
In a recent blog, Google, the company, was being compared to Pixar. The comparison came in light of Google transitioning to a mature phase of their core business and strives to expand. Pixar has a string of 11 straight blockbuster hits and shows no sign of slowing down. What can Google learn from Pixar?It is the fear of complacency that is part of the DNA of the whole company. This results in a continual evaluation process of their work and direction and leadership that identifies new problems to be solved to be discussed openly and in humility. This has great application to all companies and organizations that had some past success. "Success hides problems" and leads to complacency and resting on their laurels.
I believe spiritual organizations having their foundation on God and His Word can learn from Pixar. We are not just organizations, but spiritual movements dealing with spiritual adversity. If complacency is allowed to happen in our personal relationship with Jesus, our spiritual growth is flat-lined, and in some cases even becomes a decline. Tozer argues that we have lost our acute desire for Christ - the worshiping, seeking and longing for Christ and is due to the present state of the church expecting that the leaders do the worshiping, seeking and longing for us.
This directly relates to the effectiveness of the organization or church we work for. If we are complacent in our relationship with God, our organization/church that is founded in God will be complacent as well.
Are we complacent? Do we fear complacency in our relationship with God like how Pixar fears complacency in making animated movies? What do you need to do to guard against complacency?
I need to:
- Make sure I am continually seeking, longing and worshiping God (John 15)
- Continually evaluating, in God's grace, how I am doing in obeying and applying God's word
- Keeping the organization's vision fresh in my memory and actively communicating the vision to all stakeholders
