HE SAYS: It Takes All Types

I once read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and found it to be one of the most oppressive works I have ever read.  The message I heard clearly from the text was:  “If you want to be successful, you must be like this…”

Jesus had a different formula for success:

Matthew 10:37-39 “Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. (NIV1984)

Jesus does not call us to reinvent ourselves.  He calls us to release ourselves.

I have been witnessing a situation where people are being held to a rigid, homogenous standard for success.  Those who cannot achieve results which match the prescribed results are driven out of the team.  The result is a single-minded team which is blind to opportunities outside of their sphere of experience.  This is NOT God’s model for the body of Christ.

Romans 12:3-5 “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.” (NIV1984)

Diversity is not a new Human Resource Management concept.  Jesus modeled diversity first.  His twelve disciples were a mismatched group of men with apparently NO habits of highly effective people.

There was Peter, the impetuous one who always acted before thinking, Nathanael, the quick-to-judge, Thomas, the empirical one, and even Judas, an agent of the enemy.  They were all uneducated, slow to comprehend, and unassertive.  (except for James and John)

Many Members - One Body

Lord, please help me to accept my own weaknesses.  Please give me the ability to see strengths in others, and the humility to accept the help I need.