Many, many, many businesses, governments, schools, families, and individuals are held back by the same issue. Fear. Churches and mission based organizations are not immune. In truth, they are probably the worst.
I know everyone talks about fear all the time and how to overcome it. People gives seminars and write books about it. But I think we need to go a level deeper to really address fear.
This line of thought started the other day as I was talking to my friend. You see lately, I have been seriously confronted with the reality of my pride: how I try to act smarter and superior to others, how I make decisions that are me focused, how my pride consumes and consumes.
My friend, on the other hand, was talking about fear. His words struck home. You see, I have worked at institutions that are driven by fear. Let me tell you, it's tough. It only leads to confusion. For example, you're looking at a poor institutional decision thinking, "Why did the administrators do that?" Then you take a step back and remember those devilish motivators: pride, fear, and the demand to maintain appearances. Suddenly the poor decision(s) make perfect sense.
These thoughts about the connection between fear and pride caused me to write my friend the following:
"I think we were both talking around the same issue yesterday. I described it from the perspective of pride and you from the perspective of fear.
Overcoming pride, fear, and the performance-demand is a life struggle. I hope, desperately, to get free of them, a little at a time. These scriptures speak to me:
Hbr 13:6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord [is] my helper, and I will
not fear what man shall do unto me.
Psa 56:4 In God I will praise his word, in God I have put my trust; I will
not fear what flesh can do unto me.
It’s this whole viscous cycle of pride, casuing me to live in fear of not performing that gives me pain.
Pride --> Fear --> Performance-Demand --> Stress --> Unhappiness --> Poor Focus/Results ---> Pride --> Fear …
For 3 decades, this cycle has caused me 3 lifetimes worth of grief. For me, and this is just the way God made me, over-performance destroys me. Literally as someone with ADHD will tell you, when I try to FORCE something, it falls to pieces. Tiny little pieces. When I remove the demand for performance and live in who I am, and who God made me, then success, joy, and power are my companions.
I think I’ll post this on my blog. Everyone’s dealing with the same cycle."
So, here I am writing this in my blog.
My sisters and brothers, businesses, universities, and churches: live as who God made you. Your pride, fear, and performance-demand are dragging you down, creating confusion and pain. They tarnish and corrode. They eat away the gold that God has placed in your heart.
Do not fear man. Fear God. What is His demand? It is relationship with Him through His son Jesus, who has made you perfectly acceptable already. STOP living in fear. I beg you. I beg you. I beg you.
Ecc 12:13 Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this [is] the whole [duty] of man.