I have been finding myself to be extremely busy. Busy to do any of my regular chores. My to-do list has become more than a couple of pages. I felt that I need to get more efficient in doing my day to day activities. At work whenever I find one of my engineers having trouble finishing assignments, it is invariably due to the following:
1. Priorities are wrong.
2. Not knowing when and whom to ask for help.
3. Indecisiveness or inability to take risk.
Priorities
In order for us to come up with a prioritized list often times we have to come up with a vision/mission statement. Put in normal terms we need to set an objective for our life. As Christians our objective in life should be to glorify God. Bible says in Colossians 3:17, 'Let every detail in your lives--words, actions, whatever--be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
So I was trying to see how I can build priorities in my life using this objective. I looked in the Bible for answers. I was surprised to find that Jesus has given a priority for our life. It is in Matthew 22:36Mt 22:36 “[Jesus], which is the great commandment in the law?” And he said to him, ’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law and the prophets.”I looked at it and felt that it is too abstract. How am I going to use this to prioritize my day to day work? So it lays out as follows:
1. Relationship with God
This meant that I should prioritize my quite time with God ahead of all the other activities I do. This includes carrying out the responsibilities God entrusted me with. This includes playing the role of the leader of the family that God has blessed me with.
2. Relationship with your fellow people and yourself. This means I should be able to balance activities like spending time to take care of myself with spending time with others.A classic illustration of this prioritization in action can be found in the story of Martha and Mary. Jesus and his disciples came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'Martha got so busy that she forgot the big picture! She was so worried about doing things that could have been put off that she missed out on listening to Jesus and spending intimate time with him. Don't let this happen to you!Martha prioritized providing for all the guests ahead of listening to Jesus.Knowing when and whom to ask for help.Often times we forget that we follow an all powerful God. A God who created the heaven and earth, a God without whose permission a hair on your head will not fall down. Now imagine if you were working for boss who is like this. What would you do when you hit a roadblock in your tasks? I am sure we would all like to talk to our boss about this problem and probably ask him if he knows anybody else in the organization is fighting similar problems. Or whether he could throw his weight around and get something done. In our lives many times we feel that we have to do it all alone and we struggle night and day trying to solve the problems on our own. Just escalate and be still. God says "Be still and know that I am God".IndecisivenessI used to have a boss who had the philosophy that if I make wrong decision I learn but if I don't make a decision I fail. At times when we are faced with a tough decision we want to push the decision making as far out as possible. We want to wait till all the variables get resolved. What we need is to make that leap of faith. Bible is filled with stories of people who took that leap of faith. David was anointed King but it took him 40 years before he became one. In the mean time he was hunted down but he never gave up. Abraham waited for his son and he was blessed with one at the age of 100 years. Bible also illustrates the pain they went through and the struggles they had in their mind. There were times of disbelief that they had to overcome. Taking firm decisions and laying it to God helps us save time and become more efficient.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Friday, March 21, 2008
Surviving the rat race
After working in a company for about 12 years I decided to change companies. It became one of the most stressful decision that I ever made. I used all the decision making tools that I knew and it got me thinking a lot about my career. I went back to looking at the different assignments in my job that made me happy or make me feel satisfied. There was something that was common to all these tasks: they played to my strengths, there was an underlying mission bigger than the job (more like a calling), I was doing it because I wanted to glorify God. At that time I was not able to articulate this so clearly but today when I was sitting to prepare to discuss about careers the three points just stood out clearly.
Believe that we are uniquely created for our career
Ephesians 2:10 - “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
A while back I was browsing the web and I came upon an interesting article. It talked about how every one in the world is getting specialized to the extent that we will be incompetent more things than the things they are competent in. When I look at my life it became obvious that the only thing that I am competent in is at doing my work and everything else I outsource. I outsource the building the house I live in, teaching my kids, etc. I have also noticed that because of the fact that each person is unique each of them have unique needs and some one else is able to meet those needs. For e.g when I was looking for a school for my daughter I realised that there are cars that offer the differing trade offs: More studious schools, More religious schools, Focus on well rounded educaiton, etc. The same kind of thing can be observed in cars, routers (:-)), etc. That brings me back to the verse above, that is each one of us is uniquely created for a purpose. Because of the nature of the dependencies and the need for specialization there could easily be a special purpose for the 6 billion people in the world. So each of us are uniquely created for a special purposes. This is done by the place we are born in, the experience that we are exposed, the kind of education, etc. We are in the arms of the master craftsman being molded for the special purpose. In spiritual life there is always God's plan and then there is the counter strategy from Satan. It is very interesting to watch the interplay. If God designs you to be unique with your own special skills, etc. Satan's game plan is to build stereotypes and make you beleive that you are destined to do something because everybody else does it. Often times we end up trying to do that and we end up resisting God's plan and over all ending up frustrated.
Treat your career as a calling
Colossians 3:23 - “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men".
I was watching a movie called 3:10 to Yuma and there is this guy who is a cook in the army during the civil war. He gets injured in a kitchen accident and has a permanent limp in his leg. He however feels ashamed of it and feels that he needs to do something heroic to impress his kid. Often times we do not think that our career choices are God's plan or calling. We just equate calling to only certain types of professions like a minister, missionary, probably a doctor. Just like in an army, God's kingdom needs people with all sorts of skills. If it was in God's plan that when he comes the second time that the whole world will see him at the same time. Then there needs to be engineers, etc. who need build networks through which it can be broadcast to the whole world. An army is a classic example of the kind of support staff that is necessary to support the front line. This is the world view that is going to liberate us from the curse of the Garden of Eden. Lets now look at the kind of behavior this kind of an world view is going to provide:
1. Its no more just a job, it is a calling. So there is no key milestones in your career that you need to hit. It is a place where you are learning the skills to fullfill your calling. So the measurement is in the skills you pick up and not the level or the title you reach.
2. The goals are at the level of God. Often times there comes a guy who is on a mission to do something beyond the regular job. For e.g. there was a guy who was on a mission to solve the IP address shortage problem, or the problem of secure software, etc. These are the guys who are passionate and talk with conviction and are willing to do anything to get to the goals. It enables you to set goals beyond your company, etc.
3. Now that it is a calling you can tap into the infinite wisdom of God for answers to issues at work. It is no more your problem. This would reduce your stress a lot.
Do your job to Glorify God
Matthew 5:16 - “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and praise your Father in heaven.”
It is often felt that the job is done primarily to pay the bills. The primary motivation for most people is making money. This is what causes us to get stereotyped. You are always looking for the career that pays the most. You are not looking for the job that God has wired you for. So why do we then do it. We do it to glorify God. We will never be able to be a testimony for God at work unless we do our work sincerely. For e.g a cop who takes bribe will never be able to talk to his colleagues about God. This is because our beleif in God has not made us differrent. When Joseph was in prison, every body else noticed the difference. When Daniel was working for the persian king every body noticed the difference. If you are doing it for the right reasons people will notice it and that will give you the opportunity to minister to them.
Believe that we are uniquely created for our career
Ephesians 2:10 - “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”
A while back I was browsing the web and I came upon an interesting article. It talked about how every one in the world is getting specialized to the extent that we will be incompetent more things than the things they are competent in. When I look at my life it became obvious that the only thing that I am competent in is at doing my work and everything else I outsource. I outsource the building the house I live in, teaching my kids, etc. I have also noticed that because of the fact that each person is unique each of them have unique needs and some one else is able to meet those needs. For e.g when I was looking for a school for my daughter I realised that there are cars that offer the differing trade offs: More studious schools, More religious schools, Focus on well rounded educaiton, etc. The same kind of thing can be observed in cars, routers (:-)), etc. That brings me back to the verse above, that is each one of us is uniquely created for a purpose. Because of the nature of the dependencies and the need for specialization there could easily be a special purpose for the 6 billion people in the world. So each of us are uniquely created for a special purposes. This is done by the place we are born in, the experience that we are exposed, the kind of education, etc. We are in the arms of the master craftsman being molded for the special purpose. In spiritual life there is always God's plan and then there is the counter strategy from Satan. It is very interesting to watch the interplay. If God designs you to be unique with your own special skills, etc. Satan's game plan is to build stereotypes and make you beleive that you are destined to do something because everybody else does it. Often times we end up trying to do that and we end up resisting God's plan and over all ending up frustrated.
Treat your career as a calling
Colossians 3:23 - “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men".
I was watching a movie called 3:10 to Yuma and there is this guy who is a cook in the army during the civil war. He gets injured in a kitchen accident and has a permanent limp in his leg. He however feels ashamed of it and feels that he needs to do something heroic to impress his kid. Often times we do not think that our career choices are God's plan or calling. We just equate calling to only certain types of professions like a minister, missionary, probably a doctor. Just like in an army, God's kingdom needs people with all sorts of skills. If it was in God's plan that when he comes the second time that the whole world will see him at the same time. Then there needs to be engineers, etc. who need build networks through which it can be broadcast to the whole world. An army is a classic example of the kind of support staff that is necessary to support the front line. This is the world view that is going to liberate us from the curse of the Garden of Eden. Lets now look at the kind of behavior this kind of an world view is going to provide:
1. Its no more just a job, it is a calling. So there is no key milestones in your career that you need to hit. It is a place where you are learning the skills to fullfill your calling. So the measurement is in the skills you pick up and not the level or the title you reach.
2. The goals are at the level of God. Often times there comes a guy who is on a mission to do something beyond the regular job. For e.g. there was a guy who was on a mission to solve the IP address shortage problem, or the problem of secure software, etc. These are the guys who are passionate and talk with conviction and are willing to do anything to get to the goals. It enables you to set goals beyond your company, etc.
3. Now that it is a calling you can tap into the infinite wisdom of God for answers to issues at work. It is no more your problem. This would reduce your stress a lot.
Do your job to Glorify God
Matthew 5:16 - “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works and praise your Father in heaven.”
It is often felt that the job is done primarily to pay the bills. The primary motivation for most people is making money. This is what causes us to get stereotyped. You are always looking for the career that pays the most. You are not looking for the job that God has wired you for. So why do we then do it. We do it to glorify God. We will never be able to be a testimony for God at work unless we do our work sincerely. For e.g a cop who takes bribe will never be able to talk to his colleagues about God. This is because our beleif in God has not made us differrent. When Joseph was in prison, every body else noticed the difference. When Daniel was working for the persian king every body noticed the difference. If you are doing it for the right reasons people will notice it and that will give you the opportunity to minister to them.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Christian Leadership
Leadership simply means a person who can take a lead on something. It could be anything in your life. It could be just taking the lead in having fun in a group. So lets take a look at what are the ingredients of leadership.
We can look at essential leadership skills by looking at the life of Jesus.
Clarity of vision.
The clarity of vision is the ability to understand and internalize the vision/goals and the ability to communicate them. If the person leading does not understand the goals then it is like the blind leading the blind. Jesus understood his goals very clearly. He was one with his father. He did not let the circumstances haze his vision. It is the number one jobs of the leader to keep all the followers focussed on the vision. This would sometimes means making the tough or unpopular calls. When jesus had to go to Jerusalem to complete his goal in this world, his disciples did not want to go. Jesus still made the unpopular decision to go and he found support from Thomas and the rest of the group followed.
Often times you might be taking the lead in a small area and the overall goal/mission might be much larger. In this case the leader needs to be in constant touch with the larger view and be in perfect sync/alignment with the person leading the bigger mission. Jesus did this by being one with the father. He spent every day praying and clarifying his mission. His disciples also did the same thing. You can also see this in the lives of Peter and Paul.
Communicating and ensuring that every one has understood it the way you intended it to be is a very difficult job. This becomes even more complicated when the goal or vision is too grand. In the case of jesus, the disciples were not even able to fathom the concepts. They struggled with the notion that the kind has to be crucified for the kingdom to be established. This was against all that they understood so far. Jesus recognized this issue and Jesus constantly corrected them when they strayed from the vision, clarified their doubts and explained to them the vision at their levels. He even appoints the holy spirit to keep them honest. When they understand the vision the result is unbelievable.
Influence Skills
A leader has to have followers and you should have the ability to influence the people following you. Leadership is always taken it is never granted. Most successful leaders have the ability to earn the trust respect and commitment of the followers. This skill is developed by the following attribute or character of the leader
a. Commitment to the vision: Jesus was committed to the goal. He was willing to lay his life for the sake of the goal. He was willing to go to Jerusalem, even though his disciples were not willing to do it. When the leader is not committed to the vision the whole group falls apart.
b. Integrity: Jesus lived a sinless life. He always walked the talk. He was not the person who only preaches for the masses. Unlike leaders of today where the preaching is only for other (For e.g. Elliot Spitzer). The leader also keeps all his commitments. Jesus kept all his promises.
c. Leading from the Front : Jesus was not the guy sitting in a palace and ordering his disciples to go around preaching. He was there doing all the work with them. He easily pulled his own weight.
d. Selfless Attitude. A good leader does not delegate all the dirty work to his/her followers all the time. This is one of the areas where a lot of leaders lose respect of the followers. Jesus did all the grunt work. He also backs the disciples when they need the support. He makes sure they are comfortable.
Training and Empowering the Followers
Jesus understood the strengths and weaknesses of his disciples. He provided feedback to them on their strength and weaknesses and helped them improve their execution and understanding. The prime example that comes to mind is Jesus exposing Peter’s weaknesses and teaches some valuable lessons. He does that in a way that he also highlights his strengths and the role he plays in the over all mission.
He constantly mentored them sent them on their own missions and empowered them. He kept them focused on the mission whenever they wavered.
The biggest testament of his training and coaching was that he had the second rung leadership in place when he was crucified.
Illustration
Now lets take this and apply it for something like a music ministry. What is the leader expected to do? -
1. Clarity of Vision
a. Understand the goals for the ministry.
- To Glorify God.
- To enhance the message in the service through worship
b. To be in constant touch with the pastor and be of one mind with respect to the needs.
c. Communicate the goals to the team and keep them focused on this. (Often times something else might take the front seat, but the team needs to be focused).
2. Influence
a. The leader should be committed to the goals. The songs picked should align with it, the music played, etc. should align with it.
b. The leader should be on time, should practice and keep his commitments.
c. The leader should make sure all the participants are comfortable and be willing to do the grunt work (like creating copies of the music, etc.). Should be willing to share the limelight and give credit where it is due.
d. The leader should have sufficient music skill or be able to bring in that value.
e. The leader should be flexible and accommodative of the group’s needs (like practice schedules, etc.)
3. Training & Empowerment
a. Identify and train second rung leadership
b. Understand people strength/weaknesses (Lack of timing, Inability to adjust on stage or showing off and forgetting that it is done for God, etc.) Talk to them about their weaknesses and help them out on those.
We can look at essential leadership skills by looking at the life of Jesus.
Clarity of vision.
The clarity of vision is the ability to understand and internalize the vision/goals and the ability to communicate them. If the person leading does not understand the goals then it is like the blind leading the blind. Jesus understood his goals very clearly. He was one with his father. He did not let the circumstances haze his vision. It is the number one jobs of the leader to keep all the followers focussed on the vision. This would sometimes means making the tough or unpopular calls. When jesus had to go to Jerusalem to complete his goal in this world, his disciples did not want to go. Jesus still made the unpopular decision to go and he found support from Thomas and the rest of the group followed.
Often times you might be taking the lead in a small area and the overall goal/mission might be much larger. In this case the leader needs to be in constant touch with the larger view and be in perfect sync/alignment with the person leading the bigger mission. Jesus did this by being one with the father. He spent every day praying and clarifying his mission. His disciples also did the same thing. You can also see this in the lives of Peter and Paul.
Communicating and ensuring that every one has understood it the way you intended it to be is a very difficult job. This becomes even more complicated when the goal or vision is too grand. In the case of jesus, the disciples were not even able to fathom the concepts. They struggled with the notion that the kind has to be crucified for the kingdom to be established. This was against all that they understood so far. Jesus recognized this issue and Jesus constantly corrected them when they strayed from the vision, clarified their doubts and explained to them the vision at their levels. He even appoints the holy spirit to keep them honest. When they understand the vision the result is unbelievable.
Influence Skills
A leader has to have followers and you should have the ability to influence the people following you. Leadership is always taken it is never granted. Most successful leaders have the ability to earn the trust respect and commitment of the followers. This skill is developed by the following attribute or character of the leader
a. Commitment to the vision: Jesus was committed to the goal. He was willing to lay his life for the sake of the goal. He was willing to go to Jerusalem, even though his disciples were not willing to do it. When the leader is not committed to the vision the whole group falls apart.
b. Integrity: Jesus lived a sinless life. He always walked the talk. He was not the person who only preaches for the masses. Unlike leaders of today where the preaching is only for other (For e.g. Elliot Spitzer). The leader also keeps all his commitments. Jesus kept all his promises.
c. Leading from the Front : Jesus was not the guy sitting in a palace and ordering his disciples to go around preaching. He was there doing all the work with them. He easily pulled his own weight.
d. Selfless Attitude. A good leader does not delegate all the dirty work to his/her followers all the time. This is one of the areas where a lot of leaders lose respect of the followers. Jesus did all the grunt work. He also backs the disciples when they need the support. He makes sure they are comfortable.
Training and Empowering the Followers
Jesus understood the strengths and weaknesses of his disciples. He provided feedback to them on their strength and weaknesses and helped them improve their execution and understanding. The prime example that comes to mind is Jesus exposing Peter’s weaknesses and teaches some valuable lessons. He does that in a way that he also highlights his strengths and the role he plays in the over all mission.
He constantly mentored them sent them on their own missions and empowered them. He kept them focused on the mission whenever they wavered.
The biggest testament of his training and coaching was that he had the second rung leadership in place when he was crucified.
Illustration
Now lets take this and apply it for something like a music ministry. What is the leader expected to do? -
1. Clarity of Vision
a. Understand the goals for the ministry.
- To Glorify God.
- To enhance the message in the service through worship
b. To be in constant touch with the pastor and be of one mind with respect to the needs.
c. Communicate the goals to the team and keep them focused on this. (Often times something else might take the front seat, but the team needs to be focused).
2. Influence
a. The leader should be committed to the goals. The songs picked should align with it, the music played, etc. should align with it.
b. The leader should be on time, should practice and keep his commitments.
c. The leader should make sure all the participants are comfortable and be willing to do the grunt work (like creating copies of the music, etc.). Should be willing to share the limelight and give credit where it is due.
d. The leader should have sufficient music skill or be able to bring in that value.
e. The leader should be flexible and accommodative of the group’s needs (like practice schedules, etc.)
3. Training & Empowerment
a. Identify and train second rung leadership
b. Understand people strength/weaknesses (Lack of timing, Inability to adjust on stage or showing off and forgetting that it is done for God, etc.) Talk to them about their weaknesses and help them out on those.
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