For you to be successful according to John Maxwell, you need to be REAL.
Relationships
Equipping
Attitude
Leadership
Can You Make it on Your Own?
We live in a world that will try to keep teaching you and preaching to you that you can make it on your own. If you want to go fast, then go alone. If you want to go further, then take some people with you. In the journey of life, you already must experience some lonely and isolated moments, but every now and again you need someone to encourage you. To push you not to give up and remind you that you've got this. Don't let your temporary inconveniences make you miss your permanent blessings.
Sinner Saved by Grace
We are all sinners saved by grace, we make mistakes, we fall short, and we have done some things that we shouldn't have. The older we get the less we can do, things don't work the way they used to, and we can't get away as fast as we used to. As things change that doesn't mean that we don't sin, and we don't struggle. We need relationships with other people because it impacts every aspect of our lives. Our relationships will make us or break us, and when we work with other people sometimes, we must do more than our assigned portion. The sad part about it is that everybody gets the same credit, without putting in the same work. One of the most hurtful feelings is having to carry other people's load.
Who's in Your Circle?
We should ask ourselves who’s in our circle. There are multiple circles in our lives because of multiple circles of friendship. One circle is filled with yes people, which will say yes to whatever you want to do. They are always ready to go every time we want to do something even when we know we shouldn’t be doing it. More than likely the people in our yes group are the people who will lie for us, be our alibi, our getaway driver, or take one for the team.
Another circle is filled with people that won’t always tell us yes but also won’t tell us no, they are our in-between circle. Another circle is filled with our honest people. The circle we don’t always want to talk to because they will tell us the truth that we don’t want to hear. Sometimes we avoid their phone calls because they know something is up, and we don’t want to hear what they have to say. Then we have the circle in the middle of all the circles created by us because we are the mutual connection, but we are not alone, because Jesus is there with us. Now there are some circles that should never cross paths, there are some friends that we have that we will never bring to church because instead of enjoying service we must filter them. Our circle matters and the goal should be to get all the people in our circle to the center because we need people in our life that are balanced.
Who's Making Withdrawals?
We have people who only come around to take from us, not because they are concerned about us or they want to check on us, but they're only coming to make a withdrawal. These people only know how to take and don't know how to give. On the other hand, we have people in our lives that recognize that we need to spend some time with Jesus before we do. These are the types of friends that make deposits in our life, but we are so prideful, stuck, and complacent that when they reach out to us, we screen their calls. When we find ourselves in this condition, we aren't willing to go to Jesus because we feel like we will never escape it. When we allow the enemy to tell us that what was temporary is now permanent in our lives, they win that battle.
Raise Your Standards
When we raise our standards then our real expectations can be met. We can't be so lonely that we lessen our standards. We must remember that a person can only give us what we allow, and once we raise our standard, we need to keep it there. When we seek God for our wants or needs, we must allow him to give it to us, and not compromise while we wait. Everyone in our circle should bring something different to the table, so they are able to be strong when we are weak. If every time we needed someone to carry us, we find ourselves carrying ourselves, we must recognize that weak people surround us. We need strong people in areas that we are not because what makes us strong together is that diversity.
By Joshua Goodin
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