Centeredness! (Part 1)

In order to stay balanced, as leaders, we must keep ourselves…

CENTERED

The Wallenda family was centered on the wrong person (see last post). The person on the bottom, the one in control was human and fallible. On that particular evening he was not centered on the wire. His balance wavered to the right or left. Their lives depended upon his stability and balance.

We cannot depend upon others for our balance. Many tend to do that you know. Those others may be good persons, talented and righteous. They may be leaders within or without the Salvation Army, but they are human and fallible. When they let us down we become dispirited. When they lean left or the right we tend to lean with them, this often leading to conflict, competition, disagreement, complaining, divisiveness. All because we are centered on the wrong person.

Or they may never let us down. They may be perfect role models. If we depend upon them for our balance we will still fall. In John 3:25-26 we see an example of this. John the Baptist was a good and righteous person. His disciples were centered on him and as a result they got into an argument over the nature of baptism. There was an unhealthy divisiveness in the camp.

How many times have I seen this occur during my 50+ years of officership? Too many! And we have lost good officers over these silly issues, i.e., the sacraments, gifts of the Spirit, organizational procedures, rules and regulations, ideologies, tradition, etc. And all because they were centered on the wrong thing, The wrong thing may be The Salvation Army itself—or any denomination for that matter—becoming an end in itself rather than a means to an end