One of the greatest God-given abilities most people possess is vision, the ability to see. I can’t imagine what it would be like to be unable to see the majesty of God’s creation and appreciate the beauty which surrounds our lives. On the downside, our eyes can be directed towards things which are not helpful, even to the point of leading us towards deception. The slight-of-hand magician or illusionist has mastered the skill of using his audience’s ability to see against them. Even though we think we’re diligently paying attention to their every move we miss something or we see something that isn’t what we think it is.
Last night I was talking with a friend about the stuff of life. I love how when two friends are together we can (almost!) fix all the problems in the world, we can, just ask us! I reflected on what happens in life when something is “good.” It could be a relationship, things at school or work, or your daily walk with Jesus. At church it could be things in the youth group, or your small group, or the church, in general. From what you see things are “good.” Now, here’s the thing about “good”, good is good, but good isn’t great. When something is good it means there’s room for improvement. Maybe there’s been progress and growth, but more is needed. Everyone can see that.
Over the next several blogs I want to explore what happens when things are “good.” I’ve read Jim Collins’ book, Good to Great, but it’s been quite a few years ago so I am fuzzy on the details. Here’s a link to an article based on the book if you’re interested:
Collins writes about how change takes place in organizations, and it’s not how many people often perceive it happens. If anything I say in these next several blogs resembles any ideas from Collins, it’s by accident because it’s been so long.
WHEN THINGS ARE “GOOD” THEY’RE NOT “GREAT”
As I mentioned already, when something is good it means there’s room for improvement. With the gift of sight we can spot the things which are not as they could be, we can identify the flaws and discern the threats. What we do with what we see may lead us to the most important decision we will make in our marriage, our friendships, our career, our church and any other area of our life which has significant value to us.
With our gift of sight we can see what’s not great, and it’s at this point we’re forced to make a choice. It has everything to do with how we react and respond to the things which are not great. The worst decision we can make is to use of gift of sight and the knowledge we’ve gained by looking closely at life, and become negative and critical. When we choose this route, we become part of the problem and not the solution. I do remember Collins talking about the importance of “brutal honesty.” No one is helped when they basically lie to themselves and say things are great, when they’re only good or even worse. The point of honest reflection has to always be to move towards solutions and making things better. My brother-in-law one time had a guy come to him, in the church where he was lead pastor, and tell him he had the “gift of criticism.” My bro told him, “You didn’t get that gift from the Spirit!”
CRITICISM HAS TO BE CONSTRUCTIVE
When things are good but not great, criticism has to be constructive or it will be destructive. Too often I’ve observed people who are a part of good churches, ministries, marriages, sport teams, community organizations, and businesses completely sabotage things because they chose to become negative and critical. These very weak, sad individuals think their role in life is to play the “devil’s advocate.” My question is: “Why would you ever want to be on his team?” When things are good but not great it’s not difficult to spot flaws or weaknesses. Instead of using this knowledge in constructive ways and working to help improve things, there are those who will use it for their own pride-driven agenda. There’s enough sin in all of us, these individuals will often be able to find plenty of people who will listen to their spewing of criticism. We love “dirt”. There’s a part of us which feels better when we can diminish others by placing the magnifying glass on all that’s wrong in them. God forgive us all!
So, what I’ve observed in life, in enough situations it makes my heart sad, is instead of something good becoming great, it becomes severely impacted by the torrent of negative and critical voices. The good becomes diminished and, at times, is completely destroyed. Churches spiral into decline, marriages are marginalized, ministries are shut-down, friendships are broken off, careers stall out, school becomes a huge drag; you’ve probably seen the pattern.
Today’s blog may be a downer for you but tomorrow I’ll write about how we can become a part of seeing something which is good begin the move towards greatness. It’s not as hard as you might think.
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