The Inspired Leader: 101 Biblical Reflections for Becoming a Person of Influence (36 page)

LEADERS THINK DIFFERENTLY than followers do. They have to. While followers can be content focusing on the trees, leaders must see the forest. While staff may concentrate on today, executives must concern themselves with tomorrow. It was said of George Washington that one of his greatest strengths was the ability to see things as they were and not as he wished them to be. Howard Gardner, in his book,
Leading Minds,
suggests that, while leaders often exert
direct
influence, such as by issuing orders, enacting legislation, or spending money, leaders also exert
indirect
leadership through their thinking process.

However, business leaders today face a dilemma. Nicholas Carr points this out in his book,
The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains.
He notes that our brain is constantly adapting to our experiences. He argues that by using computers and particularly the Internet, our brains are being re-wired to think like the Internet. He argues, “Sometimes our tools do what we tell them. Other times we adapt ourselves to our tool’s requirements” (47). Studies have shown that the human mind can retain at most seven elements at the same time if it is to properly store new information into its long-term memory. Yet today, people are being continually notified of messages and changes in stock value as well as text messages, incoming e-mail, and social media notifications. With such a bombardment of media messages, our minds cannot properly assimilate the data. Carr suggests that “frequent interruptions scatter out thoughts, weaken our memory, and make us tense and anxious” (132). He suggests that regular use of the Internet has made people unable to read more than a computer screen’s worth of text at a time and to read at a superficial level. We skim more than we read. He also argues that what we are doing when we multitask is “learning to be skillful at a superficial level” (141). He posits that intensive multitaskers are “suckers for irrelevancy” (142). Carr also argues that “the brighter the software the dimmer the user” (216). He suggests the Internet is altering the depth of our emotions (221) and today’s search engines serve as “amplifiers of popularity” (217). He suggests that tools such as Google simply draw us to the most popular sites rather than the most thoughtful or even helpful ones. In other words, today’s Internet tools are gradually doing more and more of our thinking for us. Perhaps, even more significantly, it is changing the
way
we think and
what
we think about.

What is Scripture’s response to this issue? It urges us, “
And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God”
(Romans 12:2). Scripture exhorts us to resist the world’s efforts to influence, shape, and guide our thinking. Without even realizing it, we can allow modern media to change the way we view things. Accustomed to watching the news on television while seeing updated weather reports on the side of the screen and headlines scrolling at the bottom, we find it nearly impossible to sit in front of our Bibles and to read more than a chapter. We must rely on the Holy Spirit’s help to guard our minds from the world’s intrusions. The Spirit will alert us when biblical values and perspectives are being challenged. But we must immerse ourselves in God’s word so our minds are filled with it, rather than today’s headlines and related commentary. Are you thinking biblically? Or, is someone, or some thing, thinking for you?

REFLECT FOR A MOMENT

1. Do you like to multitask? While you may be able to accomplish many things, are you doing them well? Can you focus? Can you think deeply on a matter? If you can, what is the evidence?
   

2. Do you spend more time on the Internet than reading books? Do you read more fiction or nonfiction? List the last three serious books you read. Were they required for your job or because you wanted to become informed of important issues? What are two important books you know you need to read in the next couple of months? Make plans to obtain them and read them.
   

3. Are you a deep thinker? Do you consider issues others miss? Do you discover solutions to difficult problems? If your brain is like a muscle, how much vigorous exercise have you given it lately?
   

IN 1992, DR. RICHARD Swenson wrote a much-discussed book entitled
Margin: Restoring Emotional, Physical, Financial, and Time Reserves to Overloaded Lives.
In it he argued that, quite simply, people have limits. They can only handle so much stress, so many expenses, and so many commitments before they reach a saturation point. His formula was: Power-Load = Margin (
Margin,
92). He claimed that modern society was encouraging people to live their lives right to the limit of their capacity, with nothing held in reserve. As soon as they received an unexpected bill, or crisis, or emotionally draining relationship, or disappointment, people had no reserve with which to respond in a healthy and productive manner. As a result, people were burning out and feeling overwhelmed with life. Swenson called marginless living “the disease of the 1990s.” But clearly things have grown worse since his book was first published.

Businesspeople are particularly susceptible to marginless living. With economic downturns and belt tightening, companies are doing more with less. Employees often shoulder far more responsibility than they used to. In times of high unemployment, no one wants to decline work that an unemployed person would gladly embrace. Business professionals also face pressures because they are often talented individuals who are sought after as volunteers by numerous organizations. Their church needs their time. Their children’s Little League team wants them to help out. Their children need help with schoolwork and being shuttled to their multitudinous lessons. When we add the need to stay current in our field as well as to spend devotional time with God, we can soon feel as if we have far too many responsibilities than we can handle. Without realizing what is happening to us, we gradually become more and more frustrated and less and less joyful.

The truth is that our Creator knows full well that we have limits. That is why He set a pattern for people when He rested on the seventh day of His creative activity. Scripture indicates, “
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done”
(Genesis 2:2). Clearly God did not need to rest. But He set a pattern of scheduling restoration into our lives. The Sabbath is God’s response to our need for margin. To make things perfectly clear, God codified this pattern in the Ten Commandments. Out of the ten most important divine laws given to humanity, one of them forbids people from working seven days a week (Exodus 20:8-11).

When Christ came to earth, He did not do away with the Law, but rather He fulfilled it. He looked upon those who were weary and stressed, and announced: “
Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest”
(Matthew 11:28). Christ never gives us more than we can handle. He won’t overextend us. He never allows us to face a crisis for which His grace is not sufficient to carry us through. But we must lean on Him. We must walk with Him closely enough that we experience His strength as well as His peace. Like a branch abiding in the vine, as we abide in Christ, He infuses us with the strength and wisdom to handle every situation.

How would you describe your life? Peaceful? Content? Rested?

REFLECT FOR A MOMENT

1. Do you have adequate margin in your life? If you were surprised with an unexpected bill, or crisis, could you handle it, healthily? If you don’t have margin in your life, what are some steps to build it in?
   

2. Do you feel overwhelmed with your responsibilities and pressures at work and home? Do you need to care for your soul and emotional health? Do you need to accept Jesus’ invitation to come to Him for rest? Are you abiding in the Vine and drawing upon Christ’s strength and peace?
   

3. Do you regularly take time to rest? Do you have a Sabbath in your schedule? Do you go hard all the time or do you have regular times of rest built in to your schedule? If you don’t, why don’t you sit down with your calendar this week, and begin to schedule some in?