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| Authority and submission |
If there was one reason why i've popped back to writing again is because of my cell leader ... today during our cell meeting, he was asking if was still actively blogging here ... and i told him, i've backslided and i think i have about 4 blogs to catch up on ... so here i am back again, doing one to reduce that amount to 3! :)
But today's sharing is something quite recent and i think it's something useful to share with everyone, no matter how unrealistic it can sound at times.
Before i went over to Sydney for a church camp, i was made to attend a workshop with my other administrative officers from work. It was a profiling workshop, one that i honestly felt that didn't benefit me. I'm not sure how much good it did for others but i didn't quite enjoy it but i just took the knowledge imparted from the workshop.
Now, the workshop was actually suggested a director that i had clashed against with a few months ago. One of the few people who is constantly and actively contributing to the office politics at work, i even had to take a personal insult from her once that really soured any form of respect to her as a person even. Yes it's that bad, but i still do my things professionally if i had to deal with her, but i stay far away from her on anything else outside work. I'll just say that many people share the same sentiments against her, so everyone keeps a distance from her.
Her idea was to go small scale by using the administrative officers to attend it, and at the end of the workshop, she came up with a "last minute idea" of getting us to do a presentation of what we have learnt to the rest of the organization. Basically, everyone knew she was trying to "sell" this program to the whole organization, so that she can be credited if the organization actually found it benefitting.
Guess who landed up being the presentation's team leader? Yours truly!
Now, we all knew the real motive and we knew this presentation was a "sales plan" of sorts. I formed several small teams and spoke with the appointed leaders and we all felt the same about the project; we even felt like messing everything up just to see how she could be answerable to her superiors! That was my last discussion before i went off to Sydney for my church camp.
During my time in Sydney, there was a day that my pastor was talking about obeying God's instructions and one of the things mentioned was that we had to respect authority. My god-ma did mentioned to me that God is the one who bestows people with power and authority, a certain rank in an organization or teams ... and these people are not only Christians but surely, this also means gentiles as well!
Somehow that discussion of respecting and having to submit to an authority stuck out like a sore thumb for me. Surely it is difficult, worse still if you have to submit yourself to the leadership that you have bad blood with, but somehow God did change my mind about the issue. If i had that difficulty of submission, i just have to remember that God is actually the bigger reason that i have to submit! God is who i answer to and He is bigger than my boss will ever be! When i looked at it from a different point of view, I realized that God will be there when i have trouble with this "submission", He will come in as my reason to submit!
I remember in 2 Corinthians 4:17 that whatever troubles we have, getting over them will produce a glory that will last a long time ... and i saw the glory as something that i want to give God. If not for His grace, mercy and favor, i wouldn't overcome such obstacles and because i can, He deserves all the shout of praise and glory! I want to be able to do that to God!
So when i came back from my trip, my mind was clear. I am not doing this for that lousy director. To claim the glory for God was my intention and i would not give anything less to lead the team well! I gathered my team leaders, their research, my other resources and in a matter of 3 weeks, the team managed to plan, execute and finalize the presentation. I prayed at every different stage of the project, as it grew, i asked God for wisdom to deal with the issues that arose. I ended up finding creative solutions and knew how to angle the presentation well enough for the audience.
Never have i found so much support and help! I had help pouring in from my busy colleagues, even from my own boss and an ex-boss as well! I could sense a blessing covering this project and on the day it was presented, it engaged the audience and people were impressed by the various presenters involved. After it was done, i went to a quiet spot in office and prayed thanksgiving to my Abba Father for his blessing all through the weeks. God really pays us His attention in all things that we do. I know it more after this experience!
In closing, i just have to say that God's principle of obedience is something that we do struggle with but we will not be alone in that struggle. Everyone reacts differently, but just remember that God's there and we can turn to him. It's really hard to swallow down my pride to do this "sales pitch" but when I saw the project as a glorification to God, it just provided motivation to me to do upmost best. I just knew that He was listening in, after all, it was for Him! :)
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Posted by john1427 on 2009-10-30 16:27:34 | Rating: | Views: 15
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