the leadership tests

[Beware reading this post: this is one of those posts that may seriously confront you. It did me and I wrote it].

Every day we all do things.
We live life, make decisions, interact with people, use our time, complete tasks, think, chill, the list is endless.

What have you done today?

Everything you do leaves a mark.
It makes a difference. Even though you may not see it physically – every action creates a reaction. Your being somewhere, doing something, meeting someone, not meeting someone, your readiness to take a hold of opportunities or ignore them or just not even see them – they ALL leave a mark.

The apostle Paul said it like this ‘For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. To the one we are the smell of death; to the other, the fragrance of life.’ What’s your smell like? How do people remember you?

Influence is an incredibly subtle thing.
We do it all the time without realising.
The danger with that is it may not always be the influence we imagine ourselves having.

Pastor John recently spoke about ‘repainting the landscape of Christianity in the region’. Incredible way to illustrate the potential we have. The INFLUENCE we can have as Xcel Church. Everything we do then is a part of that painting. Both as a Church but also as an individual. Our potential influence is wrapped up inside EVERYTHING we do.

Everyday you paint a picture of who you are…
Your actions.
Your lack of actions.
Your reactions.
Your words.
Your lifestyle choices.

Each one describes you. Each one shows who you really are to the world around you. Each one shows what is important to you and how you are living life at any given moment. And every day many of us tell the world and in so doing, lose our right to influence to our full potential.

How…well, forget the normal people interactions you have and just checkout your FACEBOOK & TWITTER profiles. We paint a picture that we would never have painted years ago. Full of mixed messages, negativity, lifestyle habits, choices, just plain weird stuff. They all paint a picture of you and it’s not always a great picture.

To be influential you have to be deliberate. You have to think about what you are doing and the impact that it could have. I want to do great things for God and I’m sure you do to but if we cannot manage our own lives well, why do we think God should entrust others to us as well. This is dangerous stuff to write but we are being challenged now to RISE TO THE OCCASION.

‘Everything is permissible but not everything is good for me’ [1 Cor 6:12]. It might be legal but how does it make you look? How does it make God look? What difference might it make to someone who then comes into church and sees you?

Where do you need an emergency change?
Where do you need a lifestyle x-ray to take place?
Where do you need to build some consistency into your life to increase your potenial to INFLUENCE people and be the ‘life-giving’ fragrance of God in their lives?

Interesting. Don’t hesitate.