Bigger! Stronger! Faster! In today’s world, there’s a constant pressure to grow bigger, get stronger, and move faster than ever before. Be more, do more, and achieve more are the whispers of success that never sleep in the minds of leaders. When bold visions are coupled with a leader’s bias for action, nothing seems impossible. Vision is an essential part of leadership. Without it, leaders abdicate their responsibility to create a tomorrow that’s better than today.
At the same time, the drive that accompanies vision can drive leaders into an unsustainable cycle of discontentment. The cycle begins with the leader’s passion for his mission. That passion drives him to work harder, grow bigger, and deliver stellar results. When he does, rewards, recognition, and greater influence often follow. Those perks then create pressure to produce even bigger results, so he sets his sights higher in an effort to ascend the ladder of stardom. He’s a genius. Brilliant. Irreplaceable it would seem. There’s one problem: The cycle of discontentment drives the leader to a place where “enough” is never enough.
That raises a question: where is the “enough” line in leadership? How do you embrace a white-hot vision without it pushing you into an unhealthy cycle of discontentment? How do you balance vision for the future with contentment in the present?
This is more of a tension to manage than a problem to solve. You need a worthy vision that stirs your heart to the core of your being. You also need a spirit of contentment that helps you live with a healthy perspective. In his letter to the church in Philippi, the apostle Paul provides that perspective.
The Vision/Contentment Tension
I don’t think anyone would argue that Paul wasn’t a visionary. He endured extraordinary hardship to preach the Gospel to Jews, Gentiles, and the most influential people of his day. Wimpy visions don’t produce that kind of sacrifice. Yet, even with a bold vision coursing through his veins, Paul also exhibited contentment. In Philippians 4:10-11, Paul writes:
“How I praise the Lord that you are concerned about me again. I know you have always been concerned for me, but you didn’t have the chance to help me. Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have.”
The word “learned” refers to learning gained by experience. Paul didn’t teach a theory of contentment; he lived a life of contentment. He learned to be content because he faced plenty of circumstances that demanded it. Rejection, beatings, shipwrecks, hunger, suffering, imprisonment, and a constant threat of death—just to name a few—were Paul’s experiential laboratory. And yet, he would not stop preaching the Gospel. His vision for preaching was coupled with a value for contentment.
The solution to the vision/contentment tension is not to abandon hard work and stroll into a vision of mediocrity. Leaders are called to lead people to a better future. That better future doesn’t happen without commitment, discipline, and sacrifice. At the same time, the solution is not to work ourselves into the cycle of discontentment where enough is never enough. Instead, as Paul said, we must be content with whatever we have. Not with what we hope to have.
[bctt tweet=”We must be content with whatever we have. Not with what we hope to have.” username=”stephenblandino”]
Therein lies the rub. Contentment is present focused and vision is future focused. Leaders are visionaries, which implies a discontentment with the present. That’s a good thing. But with that good thing is the need to be content with what we have. How is that even possible? How can we be content visionaries? A better understanding of Paul’s words should help.
Vision and Contentment: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Vision and contentment are two sides of the same coin. When both sides are given equal attention, you’ll live in a healthy place, and operate with a healthy perspective. Let’s talk about the first side of the coin—contentment.
The word translated “content” means “self-sufficiency.” In Paul’s day, the Stoics—who were a group of Greek philosophers—believed that a person’s peace and happiness was found in himself. In other words, you were “self-sufficient.” Everything you needed to be truly happy—regardless of your circumstances—was found in you.
A modern version in a leadership context might sound like this: “Everything I need to satisfy my leadership ambition can be found inside of me. I have everything I need to reach the top and become the best.”
But that’s actually not what Paul meant. In the very next verse, Paul drives his point home: “For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength” (Philippians 4:13). In other words, I can do everything—not through self-sufficiency—but through Christ who gives me strength. Paul’s perspective was clear: “I have learned to be content because Christ is enough.”
Does that describe your leadership? Is Christ really enough? Or do you need Christ “Plus”? Christ plus the new job, Christ plus the promotion, Christ plus the award, Christ plus the corner office, Christ plus the fastest growing church, Christ plus the biggest bottom line? Are you really content in Him? Are you really content with what you have.
Paul didn’t stop there. He continues, “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little” (Philippians 4:12, NLT).
For Paul, Christ was enough regardless of his circumstances—good or bad. Why? Because Paul came to recognize his utter need for God. When times were bad, he needed God. But when times were good, he was equally in need of God.
That’s not how we tend to see things. We readily admit our need for God when times are tough, but we like to think we’ve got it covered when times are good. That kind of attitude leads us to a place of self-sufficiency instead of Christ-sufficiency. If you don’t need God when times are good, then you’ve turned your good into God. God doesn’t play that game. God doesn’t compete. You have to answer the question, “Is Christ really enough for me?” If He is, you’ll live in a place of contentment.
[bctt tweet=”If you don’t need God when times are good, then you’ve turned your good into God.” username=”stephenblandino”]
Lesson one: Christ is enough. That’s the contentment side of the coin. But there’s a second lesson on the vision side of the coin—His enough is endless.
When you hear that Christ is “enough,” it’s easy to interpret that word “enough,” as “just enough” or “just barely.” You kind of get the picture of a car rolling into a gas station on fumes. You had just enough gas to make it to the station before you rolled up to the pump on empty.
But that’s not the picture Paul paints of Christ. He’s not a “scarcity” Jesus or a “just barely” enough Jesus. In fact, Paul paints a seemingly paradoxical picture of contentment, because in verse 19 he says, “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from his glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.”
The word “supply” means “to fill, to make full, and to completely supply.” It’s the removal of any deficiency. It’s the idea of filling something so completely that there’s no room for any more. Three words in this verse describe the completeness of God’s supply.
- Will – Paul doesn’t say God might supply your needs, should supply your needs, or could supply your needs. He says God will He is faithful to take care of His people.
- All – Paul doesn’t say God will supply some of your needs, but rather all of your needs. Again, God makes full and leaves no deficiency.
- Glorious Riches – How is God able to supply all of our needs? Because his supply is not tied to us, but to God is infinitely more powerful than you and me. He’s not drawing the supply for our needs from the economy, or from the wisdom of man, or from a reservoir that’s about to dry up. God’s glorious riches are infinite because God is infinite.
Paul was saying, “God will supply all your needs to the point that you can’t contain any more, because his source of supply is endless.”
You might be a great visionary leader, but I want you to know God has more vision to give you than you currently have. The reservoir of his vision is abundant, and you haven’t even scratched the surface of it yet.
So, how do you balance both sides of the coin—vision and contentment? How do you live with a spirit of contentment without growing complacent in the vision God has for you? Consider this:
You can be content because Christ is enough, and his enough is endless.
In other words, be content with what you have (because Christ is enough), without forgetting Who you serve (a God with endless vision and supply).
I know, easier said than done. Again, it’s a tension to be managed. Fight the temptation to let the depth of your identity be defined by the length of your resume. Instead, choose to be content with what you have, while remembering just how big God actually is.
[bctt tweet=”You can be content because Christ is enough, and his enough is endless.” username=”stephenblandino”]
If Christ is enough, why would you settle for anything less? When Christ is your enough, you’ll have more vision than you know what to do with, and yet you’ll be content to see it realized in His perfect timing. Live contently while leaning into the grandness of God. Live contently in the endless supply of Christ. You can be content because Christ is enough, and his enough is endless.
