Dear Friends,
An “underminer” was at work this week trying to split a close-knit team of colleagues. He disagreed with a management decision backed up by the legal department because he wanted to go a different direction.
He resisted the decision, but not by directly stating his case to the decision-makers. He had the opportunity to do that, but he chose to passively-aggressively sow doubt and discord.
The matter at issue was seemingly minor, but it involved a key element of a process to better and faster patient care.
A “knowing” innuendo offered here and there, fishing for a different answer by repeating a question over and over, agreements ignored, and information divided and offered in pieces to different people at different times – these are all the stratagems of an underminer.
Second-guessing and mistrust began to stir. But he hadn’t counted on the strength and transparency of our team comprised of men and women who pray for each other and support each other as our every day way of doing business. We compared stories, shared information and scrutinized email threads and realized what was amiss.
Communication cleared the air and trust strengthened by long experience took hold and extended the benefit of the doubt. There is nothing quite like a community of colleagues consecrated to God personally and professionally, committed to a godly mission and supportive of each other.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers –
.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Lord in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all (Eph 4:1-6).
.
Our calling is to accept eternal salvation in and through Jesus Christ and to let him live out his life in and through us. To live worthy of this calling is to depend entirely upon Christ (humility). With Christ as the sole source and supply of our lives, we don’t force our own will and way on others (gentleness). We stay ready and willing for whatever God wants us to do when he wants us to do it (patience). We help, stand with, encourage, and forgive each other by putting the interests of the others first (bearing with one another in love). We can keep our eyes on Jesus, trusting his love, obeying his will, believing that he has dealt with everything that would separate us from God and divide us from each other (the unity of the Lord in the bond of peace).
If we keep our focus on Jesus, we avoid the grace-denying comparisons of performance that blight Christian experience with self-righteousness and guilt. Paul called out seven “ones” in verses five and six – one body, spirit; hope, Lord, faith, baptism, God and Father of all. He said God the Father is everything for us – “above all and through all and in all.”
Pride makes us want to matter, to be significant. We hold out on God and our companions, wanting to be recognized, approved, liked, and powerful. Jesus was betrayed by a disciple who thought he knew better than Jesus what Jesus should be doing, not by some arch-villain who hated Jesus. Jesus submitted the selection of that disciple to the Father in prayer (Luke 6:12-16).
Jesus calls us, but he leaves us the choice of whether to follow. Strife, dissension, factions, jealousy and envy are all temptations to our unconverted humanity to go our way rather than God’s (Gal 5:19-21).
Paul said following God’s way means we become servants to each other, “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another” (Gal 5:14-15).
It is hard, if not impossible, to lead people without a biting word now and then. The urgent demands of staying on task with limited resources will elicit strong, sometimes harsh reactions in the name of getting things done.
I have experienced countless defeats in my walk with Jesus when I leave his side to make sure others are doing what they are supposed to be doing, or recognize the error of their ways, instead of trusting him to fulfill his purpose in his time and in his way. What I do in those moments is leave damage, if not wreckage.
Eugene Peterson says–
.
Because leadership is an exercise of authority, it easily shifts into an exercise of power. But the minute it does that, it begins to inflict damage on both the leader and the led. Paul, studying Jesus, had learned a kind of leadership in which he could stay out of the way so that others could go to God without going through him (The Message, “Introduction to 2 Corinthians”).
All of this adds up to one point – the primary task of a leader in the cause of Christ is to stay focused on Jesus and point others toward him at all times and in all things. This can’t be accomplished merely with a pious mission statement, morning devotions, or an occasional week of spiritual emphasis. This means staying with Jesus 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by bringing him to every situation with a heart and mind open to his possibilities.
I run into administrators who want to argue about this. “There’s too much praying and not enough action,” they say. I don’t blame them. A superficial Christian morality is too often used as an excuse for doing nothing. It is common, however, to idolize one’s position and busyness as the god of indispensability.
The blasphemous mantra of the god of indispensability is “We do our part and then God does his part.” We don’t have “a part” that comes before God! Our word “obedience” means to hear and to do. God always comes first and trusting and obeying God mean listening to him and doing what he tells and empowers us to do.
The first service of a believer is to surrender body, mind and soul to Christ (Rom 12:1). If that step is taken and the believer is in the possession of Christ, the believer will know and do the will of Christ (Rom 12:2-3). In fact, the believer is the will of God, “For in him we live and move and have our being,” as Paul famously told the Athenians (Acts 17:28).
Colleagues of like mind in Christ were able to pull together and stop the undermining incident this week. Even though upsetting, we know that keeping our eyes on Jesus and working out things with each other is our calling and our greater good. Reconciliation was a pleasure.
But I was tempted to speak biting words, and force the matter to a hard conclusion. I have come to a place with Christ when such thoughts and feelings run smack into the Holy Spirit in me and cause me pain and discomfort – kind of a spiritual aversion therapy. I turned to the Lord and wrote this prayer in my journal.
I have learned these truths, Lord, the sweeping winds of righteousness are in Your hand; peace is Yours to give.
Neither righteousness nor peace is in my ability to control or manufacture. I can only yield to You, but even yielding is more than my soul, crippled by pride and selfishness, can do.
But my desire for You is so great that it is painful within me. I cry out, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner! Take what I cannot yield! Remove my will and strength as a factor. Take me through the cross.
I am crucified with Christ. That is my reality. I know I don’t get an improved self out of this. You have not destined me to be Mr. Congeniality. But I am broken and need Your life within me to make me whole. There is no alternative.
Christ alone in me! Christ alone through me! Christ alone for me! None of me! All is Christ!
Let peace and mercy prevail in those places where, for too long, I warred and battled for dominance! Let my scars show I belong to Jesus. Amen.
O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him (Ps 34:8).
He resisted the decision, but not by directly stating his case to the decision-makers. He had the opportunity to do that, but he chose to passively-aggressively sow doubt and discord.
The matter at issue was seemingly minor, but it involved a key element of a process to better and faster patient care.
A “knowing” innuendo offered here and there, fishing for a different answer by repeating a question over and over, agreements ignored, and information divided and offered in pieces to different people at different times – these are all the stratagems of an underminer.
Second-guessing and mistrust began to stir. But he hadn’t counted on the strength and transparency of our team comprised of men and women who pray for each other and support each other as our every day way of doing business. We compared stories, shared information and scrutinized email threads and realized what was amiss.
Communication cleared the air and trust strengthened by long experience took hold and extended the benefit of the doubt. There is nothing quite like a community of colleagues consecrated to God personally and professionally, committed to a godly mission and supportive of each other.
The Apostle Paul wrote to the Ephesian believers –
.
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Lord in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all (Eph 4:1-6).
.
Our calling is to accept eternal salvation in and through Jesus Christ and to let him live out his life in and through us. To live worthy of this calling is to depend entirely upon Christ (humility). With Christ as the sole source and supply of our lives, we don’t force our own will and way on others (gentleness). We stay ready and willing for whatever God wants us to do when he wants us to do it (patience). We help, stand with, encourage, and forgive each other by putting the interests of the others first (bearing with one another in love). We can keep our eyes on Jesus, trusting his love, obeying his will, believing that he has dealt with everything that would separate us from God and divide us from each other (the unity of the Lord in the bond of peace).
If we keep our focus on Jesus, we avoid the grace-denying comparisons of performance that blight Christian experience with self-righteousness and guilt. Paul called out seven “ones” in verses five and six – one body, spirit; hope, Lord, faith, baptism, God and Father of all. He said God the Father is everything for us – “above all and through all and in all.”
Pride makes us want to matter, to be significant. We hold out on God and our companions, wanting to be recognized, approved, liked, and powerful. Jesus was betrayed by a disciple who thought he knew better than Jesus what Jesus should be doing, not by some arch-villain who hated Jesus. Jesus submitted the selection of that disciple to the Father in prayer (Luke 6:12-16).
Jesus calls us, but he leaves us the choice of whether to follow. Strife, dissension, factions, jealousy and envy are all temptations to our unconverted humanity to go our way rather than God’s (Gal 5:19-21).
Paul said following God’s way means we become servants to each other, “For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another” (Gal 5:14-15).
It is hard, if not impossible, to lead people without a biting word now and then. The urgent demands of staying on task with limited resources will elicit strong, sometimes harsh reactions in the name of getting things done.
I have experienced countless defeats in my walk with Jesus when I leave his side to make sure others are doing what they are supposed to be doing, or recognize the error of their ways, instead of trusting him to fulfill his purpose in his time and in his way. What I do in those moments is leave damage, if not wreckage.
Eugene Peterson says–
.
Because leadership is an exercise of authority, it easily shifts into an exercise of power. But the minute it does that, it begins to inflict damage on both the leader and the led. Paul, studying Jesus, had learned a kind of leadership in which he could stay out of the way so that others could go to God without going through him (The Message, “Introduction to 2 Corinthians”).
All of this adds up to one point – the primary task of a leader in the cause of Christ is to stay focused on Jesus and point others toward him at all times and in all things. This can’t be accomplished merely with a pious mission statement, morning devotions, or an occasional week of spiritual emphasis. This means staying with Jesus 24 hours a day, seven days a week, by bringing him to every situation with a heart and mind open to his possibilities.
I run into administrators who want to argue about this. “There’s too much praying and not enough action,” they say. I don’t blame them. A superficial Christian morality is too often used as an excuse for doing nothing. It is common, however, to idolize one’s position and busyness as the god of indispensability.
The blasphemous mantra of the god of indispensability is “We do our part and then God does his part.” We don’t have “a part” that comes before God! Our word “obedience” means to hear and to do. God always comes first and trusting and obeying God mean listening to him and doing what he tells and empowers us to do.
The first service of a believer is to surrender body, mind and soul to Christ (Rom 12:1). If that step is taken and the believer is in the possession of Christ, the believer will know and do the will of Christ (Rom 12:2-3). In fact, the believer is the will of God, “For in him we live and move and have our being,” as Paul famously told the Athenians (Acts 17:28).
Colleagues of like mind in Christ were able to pull together and stop the undermining incident this week. Even though upsetting, we know that keeping our eyes on Jesus and working out things with each other is our calling and our greater good. Reconciliation was a pleasure.
But I was tempted to speak biting words, and force the matter to a hard conclusion. I have come to a place with Christ when such thoughts and feelings run smack into the Holy Spirit in me and cause me pain and discomfort – kind of a spiritual aversion therapy. I turned to the Lord and wrote this prayer in my journal.
I have learned these truths, Lord, the sweeping winds of righteousness are in Your hand; peace is Yours to give.
Neither righteousness nor peace is in my ability to control or manufacture. I can only yield to You, but even yielding is more than my soul, crippled by pride and selfishness, can do.
But my desire for You is so great that it is painful within me. I cry out, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner! Take what I cannot yield! Remove my will and strength as a factor. Take me through the cross.
I am crucified with Christ. That is my reality. I know I don’t get an improved self out of this. You have not destined me to be Mr. Congeniality. But I am broken and need Your life within me to make me whole. There is no alternative.
Christ alone in me! Christ alone through me! Christ alone for me! None of me! All is Christ!
Let peace and mercy prevail in those places where, for too long, I warred and battled for dominance! Let my scars show I belong to Jesus. Amen.
O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy are those who take refuge in him (Ps 34:8).
Under the mercy of Christ,
Kent
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Please note that the content and viewpoints of Mr. Hansen are his own and are not necessarily those of the C.S. Lewis Foundation. We have not edited his writing in any substantial way and have permission from him to post his content.
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Kent Hansen is a Christian attorney, author and speaker. He practices corporate law and is the managing attorney of the firm of Clayson, Mann, Yaeger & Hansen in Corona, California. Kent also serves as the general counsel of Loma Linda University and Medical Center in Loma Linda, California.
Finding God’s grace revealed in the ordinary experiences of life, spiritual renewal in Christ and prayer are Kent’s passions. He has written two books, Grace at 30,000 Feet and Other Unexpected Places published by Review & Herald in 2002 and Cleansing Fire, Healing Streams: Experiencing God’s Love Through Prayer, published by Pacific Press in spring 2007. Many of his stories and essays about God’s encompassing love have been published in magazines and journals. Kent is often found on the hiking trails of the southern California mountains, following major league baseball, playing the piano or writing his weekly email devotional, “A Word of Grace for Your Monday” that is read by men and women from Alaska to Zimbabwe.