Episode 979: Comfort, Complacent, and Contentment

[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: Thanks for joining me on episode 979 of the inspired stewardship podcast.

[00:00:07] Derek Guajardo: I'm Derek Guajardo from strong life coach. I encourage you to find your own journey to building your own strong life. And one way to be inspired to do that is by listening to this inspired stewardship podcast with my friend, Scott.

[00:00:20] Scott Maderer: and I would also say that comfort in a way makes you blind to that as well. Being comfortable with where you are often does keep you from being driven to find ways to expand. It keeps you from doing things that you're comfortable with. Welcome and thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship.

[00:00:45] If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast, who will learn to invest in yourself, invest in [00:01:00] others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world.

[00:01:06] And today's episode about investing in yourself through stewarding your talent. I talk with you about the difference between comfort, complacent, and contentment. I also share why these aren't always the same thing, but can serve different purposes in our life. And I also share why you can be driven while also feeling content.

[00:01:27] You've heard me talk about developing your talent and one of the best ways to do that is through books. But if you're like most people today, it's hard to find the time to read. And that's why today's podcast is brought to you by audible. Go to inspired stewardship.com/audible to sign up and you can get a 30 day free trial.

[00:01:50] There's over 180,000 titles to choose from. And you can pick one and listen your way to developing your talents via. [00:02:00] That's inspired stewardship.com/audible to get your free trial and listen to great books the same way you're listening to this podcast. Let's talk about comfort, complacent, and contempt.

[00:02:16] A lot of times we use these words as if they're very similar. They mean the same thing. If I go to the dictionary and I look up the different definition of each comfort says a state of physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint or the easing or alleviation of a person's feelings of grief or distress complaints.

[00:02:38] Says showing smug or uncritical satisfaction with one selves are ones achievement and contentment says a state of happiness and satisfaction. Notice these words, even in the dictionary, don't really mean the same thing. All too often, [00:03:00] we begin to think of if we're content, then that means we get complacent, or if we're comfortable, it means we get complacent.

[00:03:10] We feel like these things mean that we can't be going after other things we can't be looking to grow in some way. No, the Bible says that contentment is great gain. And yet it doesn't say that complacency is, or even that comfort is in fact, I would argue that the Bible actually calls out the fact that we won't be comfortable often that we won't be desiring to just stay in the same set of situation that we won't be stuck in some way.

[00:03:49] Even that often we will be asked to do things that we're not comfortable with. Contentment is not the same [00:04:00] as comfortable or complacent. In fact, true contentment keeps you from becoming complacent in a way, because it says I am satisfied. But I'm still aware of deficiencies. I'm aware of danger. We're complacent is often blind to that because it's so self satisfied.

[00:04:24] It's so convinced that you already know the answer and the truth is I can be content with what I have, and yet also recognize that I need to get a little uncomfortable to really serve others with. I can look back on my life and find moments where I've had contentment. And if I'm honest, I can find moments where I haven't been content as well.

[00:04:54] They aren't the same thing and they serve different purposes in our life. I think [00:05:00] contentment is about recognizing the blessings that you have. And still being okay with looking for more opportunities to serve others, to grow yourself, to grow others and to do more in life. But complacency makes you blind to that.

[00:05:22] And I would also say that comfort in a way makes you blind to that as well. Being comfortable with where you are often does keep. From being driven to find ways to expand. It keeps you from doing things that you're uncomfortable with. Even things that God is calling you to do. Even things that you know are necessary for your growth and for your ability to serve others.

[00:05:51] Comfort keeps us from growing in that direction. Real growth happens outside of our comfort zone and we are not [00:06:00] asked to become. In fact, I would say, as Christians, we are asked to be uncomfortable more often than not. I don't know about you, but talking to other people, public speaking, doing this podcast, writing a book, all of the various things that I've done and begun to work on to grow my self and to grow my influence, make me uncomfort.

[00:06:27] And they make me worried about getting arrogant or lack of humility or having complacency. And it's that worry that keeps me driven while I'm also content. The fact that I'm uncomfortable with the growth is a good thing, because if I'm uncomfortable, then I'm probably pushing myself in directions that are too big for me to do.

[00:06:55] But that doesn't mean they're too big for my calling or they're too big for [00:07:00] God to drive me towards because that being driven in that direction towards the calling that is put on my heart, that's the thing that makes me uncomfortable. But it's also the very thing that I'm being called to do. And you have a calling on your heart as well.

[00:07:20] You have things that, you're supposed to be doing, and I'd be willing to bet that sometimes comfort and complacency gets in the way, but contentment gratitude, recognizing the blessings that you have, shouldn't get in the way of you being driven. So you need to do a self survey. You need to think, am I comfortable or am I content?

[00:07:44] Am I content? Or am I complacent? What is it that I'm feeling and what is holding me back from growing into my calling and serving others each and every day. Thanks for this.[00:08:00]

[00:08:00] Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen, but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you like this episode on the stewardship of talent, you can go over to inspired stewardship.com/.

[00:08:25] And sign up for our five week series on the stewardship of talent, or if you're in the us, you can text 4, 4, 2, 2, 2 talent tips. That's talent tips to 4 4, 2, 2, 2, and get those tips until next time investor. Your talent and your treasures develop your influence and impact the world.