Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’ You do not realize that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, August 2, 2025
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Complacency is not pretty. I’m experiencing a pretty bizarre disconnect in my life right now. One the one hand, I feel as though things are worse in the U.S. and the world than they have every been—there is actual, palpable evil at work in the openly cruel policies coming out of Washington D.C., our climate is so precarious literally no one can begin to guess what’s actually going to happen in our future… I could go on.
On the other hand, I am happier than I have ever been in my life for lots of reasons I won’t go into now. But I can’t just say, “I am [happy], I have [so many good things in my life] and I need nothing.” Because even though that might be true, it’s a distraction from the fact that I have a role to play—however small—in addressing the state of the world my children will continue to live in after I’m gone. And while I don’t believe I am “wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked,” I can fall into complacency, which is metaphorically this same kind of wretchedness and blindness.
It can be difficult to hold two conflicting truths in tension, yet we can. I do it every day. What’s most important is that I stay balanced so that I neither fall into despair at the world’s pain nor drift into complacency and be self-satisfied and forget about anyone else’s pain. There is a middle ground and staying close to God and my church community help me to stay there.
How do I balance my awareness of the world’s pain and my own personal happiness?
