Stay where it is safe.

What does it mean to be complacent?  The dictionary defines "complacency" as: self satisfaction especially when accompanied by unawareness of actual dangers, or deficiencies.  In other words it is being comfortable with your situation even when your actions and activities could harm your body or destroy your Moral Character.  When someone is complacent they don't recognize the changes they need to make which can help them become a better person.  They are slowly, but surely, tearing down themselves.  To show a example of really bad complacency let's go to Petersburg, Virginia, 1864.

Petersburg was a nasty and long battle during the American Civil War.  It resulted in becoming a long and tedious siege.  Since neither side could move, they dug trenches and holes to provide protection for themselves to fortify their position so that it was even harder for the other army to drive them away.  This also provide desperately needed cover from enemy sharpshooters.  Anyone who would expose themselves from the safety of their trench would be shot at and most likely hit by a sharpshooter.  As time went on, the men would get comfortable with the shots constantly whizzing past them and would eventually begin to leave the saftey of the trench.  Eventually some of them were walking on top of the fortifications just daring the sharpshooters on the other side of the field to shoot them.  Many men died from foolish actions like this. Why?  They were complacent.  They were too comfortrable with their situation that they did not recognize the dangers confronting them.  They were ignoring common sense which was telling them, stay where it was safe.

Now we are not going to be shot at by someone with a gun.  Satan will always try to get us to leave our place of safety; or in other words, get you to disregard the commandments of God which will protect you from harm.  He is trying to get you out just a little bit.  Just like a well trained sharpshooter needs just a little portion to be exposed to hit his intended target, Satan only needs a little crack in our defense to get in.  We don't become comfortable with which is wrong immediately.  But when we continue in degrading and lowly activity we become comfortable and it becomes harder and harder to leave.  It's like putting a frog in a pot of boiling water.  When put in a boiling pot of water a frog will immediately jump out.  But put it in a pot of cold water and turn up the heat, he will become complacent and boil to death.  When Satan has a strong hold on us it hurts us.  It's like being boiled, it just eats you from the inside out and places you in a miserable state.  However, there is a way out!  That way is repentance and using the Attonment of Jesus Christ.

Christ can raise us out of our troubles

When we recognize that we are not living how God would want us to live, so that we can be happy, we are pulled out of the boiling water and cleansed from sin. (2 Nephi 31:10, 12-13)  We can also recognize the pot of water before we are put in and can get away.  Frogs are safe in ponds right?  Imagen the commandments of God like a pond.  You can't boil a pond right?  Well Satan cannot influence you unless you leave behind God's commandments.  God can help us recognize what is wrong because he won't let anything happen to us that we can't handle (1 Cor. 10:13).  Praying to God and keeping a prayer in our heart will make it so Satan will never be able to pull us down (D&C 10:5).  He wouldn't be able to touch you with a 297 1/2 foot pole.  So what we need to remember is to avoid the appearance of evil, pray always and use the attonment in our lives.  Most importantly, don't get comfortrable with sin, stay away from it.           

Additional Scriptures:

Matt. 16:24

Mark 1:17-18

John 8:12
1 John 1:7
3 Nephi 9:21-22
D&C 38:22