1 John 4:16-18 (NIV)
I have worked with two different kind of bosses/leaders. One is the person who leads by fear, the other by calm competency. I am sure you can relate.
I have worked mostly in construction, restaurants and education. When I think of a "by fear" boss I think of one in particular who may have been, for me, the prototypical tyrant boss. He told me that if I didn't walk around with a pit in my stomach worried that something could go wrong then I didn't care and would not be ready for something that could go wrong. Consequently he would run around yelling at people, making up stuff to be upset about, accusing people of not working hard and generally just trying to make everyone work in a constant state of fear to "keep us on our toes". The real effect was that he was very distracting making people pay attention to a possible problem rather than dealing with the situations at hand. Thus creating more mistakes and problems which he would just yell about.
The calm, competent people who I have worked with in a moment of crisis calmly identified the issue and resources and dealt with the problem at hand. I have seen this type of leadership deal with a house built one foot too tall, cooks and food servers not showing up at a restaurant (plus various disasters dealing with food), and anything from angry parents who want to deal out justice by themselves to fights and on campus turf wars. Calm and steady leadership always keeps things in perspective and seeks to resolve the issue with the minimum amount of damage.
As Christians if we live under fear we are not free to love. Often we are afraid of being hurt, or of hurting others. Most of the time people make up rules to not get hurt. That usually ends up being legalism. For example, we fear the damage of alcoholism so we add to the word of God and say, "No alcohol." So, if someone has one drink, they are in sin or disqualified from leadership and condemnation keeps them free from being able to love. To be frank, I have seen a lot of people who didn't drink, dance, smoke or run with those who do (some of you older folks may remember that), cheat on their wives, lie, and do some pretty sinful things. Being afraid doesn't always stop you from being hurt or sinning.
Loving God and my wife keeps me from being unfaithful more than being afraid of being caught. Love causes me to view everyone with humility and grace. People don't need my attention, they need Christ's love. So if I interact with another women (and as an educator I often do) I deal with her with respect and distance. Because I love my God and my wife I am not going to put myself in a place, physically or emotionally, that will produce intimacy. I also realize I am an emotional moron. A woman's emotional language is on a graduate school level and I am in elementary school (probably kindergarten). Someone once told me that if a women talks to you about "a problem" and you can't identify it and start to work on a solution in three minutes, she doesn't have a problem, she just wants to talk to you.
Love is not afraid to do the right thing, to give of yourself or to allow others to freely enjoy what God has provided for them. Our faith in the love of God in Christ trusts that he is sovereign over our attempts to be like him and love in his Name. Try to love like Christ.
Father, help us to be like Christ and love with the perfect love that casts out fear. Praise be to you in us today!
I have worked mostly in construction, restaurants and education. When I think of a "by fear" boss I think of one in particular who may have been, for me, the prototypical tyrant boss. He told me that if I didn't walk around with a pit in my stomach worried that something could go wrong then I didn't care and would not be ready for something that could go wrong. Consequently he would run around yelling at people, making up stuff to be upset about, accusing people of not working hard and generally just trying to make everyone work in a constant state of fear to "keep us on our toes". The real effect was that he was very distracting making people pay attention to a possible problem rather than dealing with the situations at hand. Thus creating more mistakes and problems which he would just yell about.
The calm, competent people who I have worked with in a moment of crisis calmly identified the issue and resources and dealt with the problem at hand. I have seen this type of leadership deal with a house built one foot too tall, cooks and food servers not showing up at a restaurant (plus various disasters dealing with food), and anything from angry parents who want to deal out justice by themselves to fights and on campus turf wars. Calm and steady leadership always keeps things in perspective and seeks to resolve the issue with the minimum amount of damage.
As Christians if we live under fear we are not free to love. Often we are afraid of being hurt, or of hurting others. Most of the time people make up rules to not get hurt. That usually ends up being legalism. For example, we fear the damage of alcoholism so we add to the word of God and say, "No alcohol." So, if someone has one drink, they are in sin or disqualified from leadership and condemnation keeps them free from being able to love. To be frank, I have seen a lot of people who didn't drink, dance, smoke or run with those who do (some of you older folks may remember that), cheat on their wives, lie, and do some pretty sinful things. Being afraid doesn't always stop you from being hurt or sinning.
Loving God and my wife keeps me from being unfaithful more than being afraid of being caught. Love causes me to view everyone with humility and grace. People don't need my attention, they need Christ's love. So if I interact with another women (and as an educator I often do) I deal with her with respect and distance. Because I love my God and my wife I am not going to put myself in a place, physically or emotionally, that will produce intimacy. I also realize I am an emotional moron. A woman's emotional language is on a graduate school level and I am in elementary school (probably kindergarten). Someone once told me that if a women talks to you about "a problem" and you can't identify it and start to work on a solution in three minutes, she doesn't have a problem, she just wants to talk to you.
Love is not afraid to do the right thing, to give of yourself or to allow others to freely enjoy what God has provided for them. Our faith in the love of God in Christ trusts that he is sovereign over our attempts to be like him and love in his Name. Try to love like Christ.
Father, help us to be like Christ and love with the perfect love that casts out fear. Praise be to you in us today!
No comments:
Post a Comment