This year I have been trying something new with my quiet times, where I read a chapter from a book written by a Christian author each day, write about it in my journal, and then meditate and pray on what I just read. Currently, I am on my 4th book and it’s called “The Most Excellent Way to Lead” by Perry Noble.
Perry Noble’s book follows 1 Corinthians 13 as a leadership concept rather than relationship advice and I think that it definitely is applicable in a leadership sense. Following the concept, chapter 8 is all about how leaders do not have a self seeking attitude. In this chapter, Noble discusses how when we are self-seeking we pursue what’s best for us and no one else, we also lose sight of people and end up manipulating them. He identified how we become self-seeking; when we don’t take time to focus on listening to what God says, we want to be noticed more than we want to be developed as a person, we believe the lies from ourself and that deceive us, and when we are playing it safe rather than taking God size risks.
This really hit home for me… Recently I was talking to someone one and I mentioned how I have not been making decisions based on what was good for the World Race but rather what I wanted to do or what was more fun. This is incredibly dangerous because the World Race and the call that God has presented to me is far more important that anything I could ever dream up.
In the book, Perry Noble put it really well…
“I’d allowed a self-seeking attitude to creep into my thought patterns and hold me back from taking God-sized risks”.
When we are self-seeking we limit what God can do in our lives because we are too afraid to see beyond what our eyes can see. We hold tight to what’s safe and secure because we are only interested in what we think is best for ourselves. Which is far too often the safe bet, the one that’s financially secure, the one that has a safety net, a “just in case”. But the problem is we aren’t dealing with a God who has safety nets, He should be our only safety net. Perry Noble put it as…
“I don’t think the One who literally walked through hell will lead us to safe and predictable places.”
My problem is I have been looking for the easy solution, the one that would keep me close to my friends and/or family, the one that offered an easy job or internship, would allow me to do all the things I wanted to do over the summer, and provide the things I needed and what everyone else thought my summer needed. I was listening to what the safe option was, getting a job, and letting it dominate my thinking and decisions. The hard thing is that when all the voices around you are screaming at you to do what is socially acceptable and what you “should” do, our Father whispers what He wants you to do. You only have to listen.
Over the last month or so I have had the feeling of being pulled in different directions. Kansas, Houston, or otherwise, people’s intentions were good and out of love but very few had wisdom or direction from God. My self-seeking attitude wanted to please everyone and find the “easiest” option. But, as I was discussing last night with Matthew, he put it as “Things from God don’t come easy”.
With being self-seeking, all I wanted was the fruits of my labor and never bothered to see the good that comes from the hard work and discipline. My heart was geared towards “just reaching the end” rather than appreciating the process of getting there. I was focused on leaving for the World Race, not appreciating the hard work or preparation and fundraising. This was another area of my heart where God has been working heavily.
One last area that I have been learning a lot about is my own mind. It’s a very dangerous place when I don’t take concerns to God or present them to people who will tell me God’s truths. It tells me I’m unworthy, I have nothing special to offer, that others don’t like me, and so on. We have all had these thoughts cross our minds before. As Perry Noble puts it,
“No one has lied to you, hurt you, or deceived you more than you’ve done those things to yourself.”
How true is that? If we spoke to others the way we speak to ourselves we wouldn’t have any friends. We have to learn to battle against discouragement and our own insecurities. God can equip us to battle these things. Just like we must give over our hearts to him and our lives we must pray that He takes hold of our minds. It’s dangerous if this area goes untouched.
So to wrap up; I challenge you to pray for God to change your mindset from self-seeking to God-seeking, to pray for a heart that appreciates the process and not the end product, and to also pray for God to take control of your mind the way He has control of your heart.
I have been doing these things over the last month and can already tell you there has been a drastic change on my outlook and day-to-day life.
