From My Living Canvass on March 9, 2008:
God has had me in Ephesians alot lately, which is interesting because my Small Group just finished Ephesians and our mission team verse from last year was Ephesians 4:5-6.
For the past two weeks God keeps drawing my attention to Ephesians 4, particularly the first 3 verses.
“Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.”
These verses have stopped me dead in my tracks because I take my calling very seriously. I attempt to carry out my calling with excellence. I am a hard worker, devoted, and determined. (Hello Type A!)
Yet, I STRUGGLE with the commands of these verses.
I am not humble nor gentle when I am on deadline, or when someone fails to meet my expectations. My calling requires me to depend heavily on others to carry out my call with excellence yet, when others fail me, or disappoint me, or toss a wrench in my process, I rarely react with “patience, making allowance for their fault because of my love,” and my flesh screams at the thought of being “humble” or “gentle” with people who interfere. My typical reaction is to freak out and get frustrated or take it out on people close to me. Or just shut down and puff up with pride.
Its very difficult for me to say these things, but in the spirit of transparency, I ask if anyone else struggles with these commands? How do you marry the teaching of the WORD with how you interact in the marketplace, particularly as biblical teaching relates to interpersonal communications?
Do you look for the teachable moments, with a gentle tone and humble approach, or do you panic at the inconvenience of life’s interruptions that may, at the end of the day, actually be for your own good?
How would your work life, school life, or home life look different if you you sincerely made EVERY EFFORT to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace?
What does a “life worthy of your calling” look like to you?
AnnieLaurie -
I just wanted to let you know that your words on the blog hit home with me currently in my business. How do you mix the words of scripture (specifically those in Eph) with a work environment without coming off too soft?
How can you get people to respond and when they don’t, hold them accountable firmly but with love?
This is a challenge but what I have found to be effective is the words we use to describe our feelings and our desires.
We recently brought on a senior manager and in her introduction to the team she came across very hard and direct. The words she choose to use were not words that inspire or motivate, instead they demoralized and degraded. Now this was not intentional but she was speaking out of what she was and what she knew.
John Maxwell in the book, “The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership” teaches us that our effectiveness is only as good as our leadership. The more leadership ability you have the more effectiveness you will have with people – it’s call the Law of the Lid. What does it take to increase your Leadership ability? I am still learning that myself but I do know if you will spend time in Personal Development this will help.
I have a Success Group on facebook that provides a ton of material in this area of Personal Development – maybe you will check it out. Leaders are readers and I encourage you to read more on how to be effective with people. I will leave you with two resources that will change your life: How to Win Friends and Influence People and Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Both books provide you the skills necessary to balance Grace and Truth with people and will help you become more effective.
Thanks for your transparency in this area, I will keep this in prayer.