Who will win? Contentment or complacent?
The NFL world was in shock last Sunday with an unpopular move from the league’s most popular and prolific player!
Patrick Mahomes, took a knee 20-seconds before halftime and sat on a 4-point lead. History tells us that this elite Kansas City offense could have easily scored.
Visibly upset by the coaching decision, Patrick submitted and took a knee.
Kansas City lost the game by 3 points as the second half turned out to not go as anticipated. They failed to go big, so they went home with the loss.
Monday morning quarterbacks like me can always analyze the poor first-half decision that lost them the game. Though I am not a sports reporter, there is one thing that every fan and reporter can say, complacency lost the game!
Complacency is common on the football field through the art of kneeling. In life, complacency is common through the art of kneeling to the comforts of our careers.
Team Complacency Loses
Complacency is non-action.
Taking a knee in frustration is giving up on the potential of something more.
Complacency believes there is a guaranteed script for the second half. A lot of us are risk-averse to fumbling, stumbling, or getting hurt…therefore we knee to protect the “comfortable”.
Complacency forgets that God operates the scoreboard.
Many of us are halfway through life and are still punching the clock. Not that there is anything wrong with punching the clock if that is our purpose, service, and fulfillment. We are commanded to work with our own hands that we should share with those in need (Ephesians 4:28).
I’m speaking to those of us who are miserably punching the clock and are consistently out of alignment with our callings, our values, and our families.
Millions of people according to this article, are longing for something better, something fulfilling, something satisfying, or something beautiful. It’s human nature as image bearers of God!
The article referenced above deep dives into the Great Resignation and ends with the quote: “what does work truly mean to the individual”?
Work is a form of love! It’s taking our skills and talents to serve humanity.
However, instead of pursuing impactful work in line with our natural gifts, we often take a knee to the current comforts of a paycheck. Financial prosperity unfortunately has a way of becoming an idol which means we are elevating the mighty dollar over the God that provides.
We are waiting until retirement, the next vacation, when the kids go to college, or when there is enough money in the bank account to find joy in life. This isn’t surprising, we are wired by age 4 to believe that success only has one path.
The truth of the matter is that we should be chasing a life that we don’t have to retire from, but we burn out for the wrong reasons. We hustle for the “Benjamín’s” by sacrificing our souls, while our little “Johnny and Susie” go off to get programmed to live the same way.
Many don’t act on our inner voices for our true purpose in life because of the WHAT-IFS!
The voices say: “What if I fail? I have already invested too much in this career! I have kids to feed and can’t take the risk. I am afraid of blowing through my retirement funds”.
These voices are real and should not be ignored!
These voices should be challenged because most of them are lies.
Let’s instead tune in to the Holy Spirit, our closest friends, and our families. We are to verify that the inner narrative is not one-sided and carefully listen to the voices of sound wisdom.
A Tie Game Is Not Ideal
A mindset of status quo leaves points on the scoreboard.
The opportunity to win is in the now. Exploring the dream, but not acting on it can result in a tie.
No one wins with this attitude!
Vision is necessary. We have to set a destination! But where we get trapped is by chasing retirement as that destination. It is the wrong destiny.
Some of us are paralyzed in career-stagnation decision-locks because we are looking ahead to the end of the game.
As we pursue a comfortable retirement, too many of us are looking back and regretting the time that could have been spent investing in relationships at home. The investments into our 401-K and in our work lose all value if we lose the people who matter the most in this pursuit.
Winning at work and losing at home is a tie game worth avoiding at all costs!
In this instance, this is where a coach is valuable to support the play calling. That coach can help us on the road to action and setting career and family goals that are integrated. The coach is a believer and a motivator of work and home. A coach will support the recalibration of all the values in life.
Find a friend, spouse, mentor, or coach that can help combat the inner voices saying that life has to be this way!
Stop Looking at the Scoreboard
Part of moving forward on a dream is not necessarily the result. It’s the journey and the process of growth that satisfies true fulfillment. The win comes when we are faithful to the journey.
The joy is in the journey, not in the destination.
If we obtained all the money and accolades in the world right now, what purpose does that serve? What purpose would we then have once we “have it all”?
Failure happens! That’s life! We are to learn from failure and keep playing the game. The season goes on!
This season is life!
Instead of the scoreboard, we are to focus on other people. Instead of kneeling, our play on the field is simple, to love others and to love God.
In each one of us is a unique talent that can be put to good use to serve humanity for the glory of God.
God wants to be with us in our work, in our creativity, in our productivity, and even in our rest.
Team Contentment Wins
The winning mindset is in contentment.
Contentment wins because it requires action and making the most of the opportunity in front of us. The eyes that ignore the scoreboard tend to find great joy!
Win or lose, we live to fight the good fight, every day.
Contentment is going to work hard regardless of the circumstances knowing that we have left it all on the field! We may be hurt, tired, and fatigued, yet we find peace in purpose.
Contentment is being ok that the odds may be stacked against us because we are going to try anyway. Not by our own strength, but with the help of God.
Contentment is finding love and eradicating the fear of circumstances. It displaces the “what-ifs” and worries.
Go Big AND Go Home
If given 20 seconds or even 20 years left remaining in the field of life, what should we do? This applies not only to career moves but to any personal goals that may be holding us back from fulfillment.
The other side of our halftime is not guaranteed for all of us.
The Chiefs found out the hard way that when given the opportunity to go big, go for it.
In life, the easier choice is taking the knee of complacent. However, if the status quo is sucking your soul dry, it’s time to go bigger and live with the contentment of living out your passions and values.
Go big and find the integrated path that leads to success.
Applicable Scriptures
Romans 8:31 (NIV)
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Romans 8:27-39 (NIV)
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Hebrews 13:5-6 (NIV)
Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”(Deuteronomy 31:6)
So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”(Psalm 118: 6-7)
1 John 4: 4-6 (NIV)
You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.
1 John 4: 13-18 (NIV)
This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Philippians 4: 6-7 (NIV)
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
