As I have reflected over my life to make sense of who I am and what I do, I realize that regardless of the context (business organization, church, as a professor, father, husband, friend), I seem to need to help others make sense of themselves and their world around them. I call this "helping others get rid of their stinking thinking." Like the cartoon, it feels like "my solemn duty to stamp out ignorance" and in many ways it has fueled much of my success.
Helping people make sense of important concepts that are complex and usually misunderstood appears to be God's calling on my life. I know some organizations and many people have been helped in significant ways by my instruction and mentoring. For this I am thankful and humbled.
What I (and all of us) must realize, however, is that what God has given me for good can also have a dark side. The gift itself is neither good nor bad, but how I use it. When I have used my gift to bolster my pride, gain power over another, or to defend myself against attacks, I am outside of God's will, this is sin, and the outcome for me is not good. Usually this takes the form of insensitivity and arrogance. This restricts the intimacy and trust that produces joy in relationships. It drives wedges between me and others.
God, please give me the power of Your Grace to use my gifts with a Kingdom mind and when I don't, forgive me!!
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