This post as a YouTube video here…
The other night I was awake in the middle of the night. I was distressed about some recent developments in our world, and I was talking with God about it.
Does that ever happen to you? Do things bother you? Do they keep you up at night?
Sometimes it happens to me.
Anyway, I was talking with God and He reminded me of a couple things.
#1 God is very much in charge. He knows what He’s doing. He’s going to make it right.
#2 There is a battle going on, God is winning, and we get to fight on God’s side.
But not the way some might imagine.
Paul writes, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” 2 Corinthians 10:3-4 NIV
We don’t fight the way the world fights. If we did, we would get the same results the world gets. We don’t want those results. We want better results. So we fight a different way. We use different weapons.
What are those weapons?
Let me suggest there are four.
#1 Our faith. We believe. Some people doubt. But we believe. We believe our world is messed up, but God is fixing things, and we get to help.
John writes, “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” 1 John 5:4 NIV
Our faith tells us who we are. We are ambassadors of heaven. Every step we take brings the presence of Jesus into a broken world. Every word we speak is a word of healing, of help, of hope. We were sent here to earth to bring eternal good into many lives.
Our faith informs us, identifies us, empowers us.
#2 Our perspective. I should probably change that to “God’s perspective.” Do the people of heaven think the way the people of earth think?
In case there’s any doubt, the answer is no!
The people of heaven of broken free from the groupthink that leaves us mired in problems that don’t get better. The people of heaven have a new and better perspective—a perspective that comes straight from God.
And that’s who you are. That’s who I am. We are people of heaven. We are meant to step away from the way the people of this world think into God’s perspective. We don’t look to a political party or a news outlet for our perspective. We look to God.
The most valuable thing in the universe is God’s perspective. If we all had it—if we saw ourselves and one another through God’s eyes, nearly every problem that plagues humanity would evaporate, almost overnight.
James writes, “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.” James 3:17-18 NIV
#3 Our love. Some people hate. We love. Some people are indifferent. We care. Some people play politics. We are above that. We have empathy, respect, compassion for other people. People matter, and the things that affect people matter to us.
Paul writes, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21 NIV
Jesus said, “Love your enemies.” Matthew 5:44
#4 Our actions. Some people blame. Some people complain. Some people find fault. We choose a different route. We find opportunities. Instead of being problem focused, we’re solution focused. While others are yelling and screaming, we figure out how to help and we help.
In John 9 we see the disciples encountering a man born blind. They wanted to know why. They wanted to know who to blame. But Jesus put the whole tragedy into perspective. “This isn’t about blame,” He said. “This is about opportunity. This is an opportunity for God to do good.”
That’s what we do. We look for opportunities to do good.
Those are our four weapons:
- Our faith
- Our perspective
- Our love
- Our actions
This, by the way, is what defines a breakthrough leader. A breakthrough leader solves problems by inspiring people to think and behave differently. That’s what we do.
If this interests you, I think you might enjoy my book, Strap In* *This could be a bumpy ride: The inner journey of breakthrough leaders.
Have a super weekend!
Dwight
