Given a sovereign, intentional, strategic Creator, it follows that he always has a will for everything and ways for his will to be executed. Man can seek to do God’s will either according to God’s ways or man’s ways. The Old Testament story of Ishmael and Isaac illustrates the difference between these two ways. True Christians must learn how to discern not only God’s will but also God’s ways.
According to Romans 12:1–2, to discern God’s will, a person must be in the process of transformation to increasingly learn to think as God thinks. Then having discerned God’s will on a matter, one must seek to execute God’s will according to God's ways. Scripture provides guidance through divine precepts to help us execute the will of God. Principles such as the Golden Rule, equal yoking, C4, stewardship, the divine problem-solving methodology (ask-seek-knock), sowing and reaping, going the extra mile, servant leadership, God pays for what he orders, and so forth. But some of God’s ways are not explicitly delineated in Scripture. These situations require enhanced spiritual discernment.
For example, consider the story of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise. Sarai and Abram knew God’s will but sought to fulfill God’s will immorally. Instead of waiting for God to reveal his way of fulfilling his promise, they concocted a scheme. Their actions produced Ishmael through Hagar, Sarai’s servant. Ishmael was not the divinely chosen vessel to fulfill God’s promise. Ishmael was, and continues to be, an enemy of Christ and his lineage. God’s chosen way was through Isaac. Followers of Jesus (the spiritual descendants of Isaac) have enjoyed the promised Abrahamic blessing but are negatively impacted by the enemies of Christ (the spiritual descendants of Ishmael). There are always negative consequences when one seeks to fulfill God’s will illicitly.
Knowing the will of God is necesssary but not sufficent. As in all of life, organizational leaders should seek to discern the will of God and execute it according to the ways of God. Strategic plans, for example, must be prayerfully discerned both in terms of the plan (God’s will) and in the ways of executing the plan. This includes discerning the tactical details. The process of clarifying both the strategic and tactical plans is a management team exercise that requires much prayerful discernment and scriptural insight. The details of whom to serve, the exact nature of the value proposition, the means and methods of delivery, the timing, and the location must be wisely planned. In the final analysis, the measure of success is not profit but the degree of discernment of and alignment with the will and ways of God. According to this definition, success is the right people doing the right things for the right people in the right way at the right time in the right place for the right reason.
Here is your business tip. Knowing God’s will about a matter is necessary but not sufficient. Organizational leadership must learn how to execute God’s will according to God’s ways. Therefore, organizational leaders must be both students and practitioners of divine precepts, and they also must develop spiritual discernment to know how to execute God’s will when explicit biblical guidance is not provided. This requires developed spiritual wisdom and discernment that is a mark of excellent leadership.
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