A
thought by Steven Furtick, (2016-03-01) from his book, (UN)Qualified: How God Uses Broken People to Do Big Things (p. 6).
The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title of the book
to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)
I know, I
know there are other things we qualify people on such as looks and status but
basically we use character and competency as guidelines.
Steven says,
“Character refers to who we are. Not just our names or nationalities, but our
personalities, our morals, our values, our emotional makeup, our likes and
dislikes, our tastes, our manners— the list goes on. Competency refers to what
we do. It’s the complex sum of our training, achievements, talents, activities,
and potential. It’s about how good we are at what we do and about how much we
accomplish.”
He goes on, “Our
competency is usually much more at the forefront than our character. What we do
makes headlines. It fills the pages of our résumés. It is so intricately
connected to our identity that we often think it is our identity. Sooner or
later, though, our character gets the last laugh. People might hire us and use
us for what we do, but they accept us and like us for who we are. And
ultimately, of course, who we are determines what we do. You can pretend for
only so long before the real you comes out.”
He then
says, “The moment we meet a new person, we size up that person. We don’t do
this consciously for the most part. And it isn’t necessarily meanspirited. We
automatically gather clues about the other person’s character and competency.
We start to categorize the person in relationship to us… Of course there are
elements of subjectivity and self-centeredness in our relationships with
others. That is part of life in a broken, fallen world. It is an instinct for
self-preservation. It’s not realistic to expect people to accept each other at
face value. Nor is it healthy to be naive and assume that everyone is our best
friend or has our best interest at heart. That’s why Jesus told us to be wise
as serpents and harmless as doves.”
So what do you use?
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