The Temptation of Titles

Then Moses said to God, “Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?” And God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And He said, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”" -Exodus 3:13-14

Today, I'd like to share an interesting thought with you. In the verse above, Moses was asking about credibility with his question. "They'll be looking for credibility God; what shall I tell them?" I AM. That is an amazingly profound, yet simple and humble title for the Creator of the universe.

Think about Jesus too. He rebuked unclean spirits which tried to announce and proclaim His deity while He was ministering. Even His birth happened in relative obscurity. While contemplating these things, I am learning an important lesson; Titles are a "people thing," not a "God thing." The Lord gives no value to titles.

The temptation for us is to strive for titles and then wield them for our own use in various ways; to acquire accreditations to please people; dare I say it, even to exalt ourselves. At times, that is even true within churches and ministry organizations where titles and positions are coveted. With Jesus as our example for living, I've had to learn the hard lesson that titles are tempting in the world, but irrelevant to God. Jesus says those who want to be the greatest in the Kingdom ought to be the greatest servants. We should be "known" by our fruit.

In the business world, titles, positions, education levels, accreditations, and certifications seem to be thrown around like socks. In fact, most of the time it feels like a necessity to flash them to get "in" with people, or to get where we want to go. Don't get me wrong; education is valuable and positions with powerful titles are a reality in our world. However, none of these things make us a "somebody." God would say, "You've always been a somebody. Even before you were born and I was knitting you together in your mother's womb you were a somebody. I qualify you. I am not a respecter of persons. I show Myself strong through you. Wisdom is known by her children."

When I asked God recently about what I thought were His many titles, e.g. Prince of Peace, Counselor, Healer, Sovereign Lord, etc., He said, "No. Those describe My character." Wow, Father, teach me to see others through Your eyes, and to put on the tremendously humble spirit that You have! Make me more like You!

Lessons from Summertime Kayaking

This weekend, my husband and I and Tammy and her husband had the opportunity to go kayaking on the Puget Sound. What a lovely time - it was so wonderful! Great weather, peaceful breeze, great company, good exercise, and just plain fun. At the end of the evening, we even recorded an impromptu video promoting the October 9th conference for Christian business women! Here we are:

As we got going with our kayaks, I quickly fell behind the others. It was the first time I had been in my own, one-person kayak. My thumbs were painfully hitting the fiberglass edges of the kayak and that was the obvious sign that my paddling left much to be desired. I studied the way I was paddling to see what I was doing wrong. My conclusion was this:

• I was not fully extending my arms on each stroke.
• My paddle was going too shallow into the water.
• I thought I knew enough about what I was doing and didn't take the time to have anyone show me before we took off.

After I contemplated my rowing problem and what I need to do to correct it, a lesson hit me. How many times do people have these same "rowing", or progression problems in their lives and businesses?!

Not fully extending - giving a business, project, goal, or relationship a mediocre effort and short-cutting discipline or not being whole-hearted.

Going too shallow - Just skimming the surface of what potentially could be. Thinking small can slow down our progression.

Taking off without getting a proper lesson -You think you know, so you go, then it's slow...oh no! Tearing down pride and asking for help can be difficult, but then again, so can falling behind.

To me, this was a lesson about effort and mentoring. Without mentoring and wisdom, we expend a lot of effort and have minimal results to show for it. I was reinventing the wheel, and it wasn't working real well. With mentoring, we can start out right, use good technique and feel more confident that we're moving in the right direction. And, we can save ourselves from some pain!Posted by Krista Dunk, www.KBWomen.com