Tagged: powerlessness
How to succeed in life … for Jesus
Want to get ahead in life? Want to get promoted at work? Want to be in charge? And lead other people?
Well, any look at the non-fiction section of a good bookshop will show you that there are no end of books ready to tell you just how easy it is to become a great leader and get people to follow you and do what you want them to – some of them very well known:
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
How to Win Friends and Influence People
The One Minute Manager
The list goes on. I did a search on Amazon for books on Leadership yesterday. And some of the taglines for the books illustrate just what a fixation our society has for power and control over others:
Fast, effective ways to become a leader people want to follow
Why the world needs more everyday leaders and why that leader is you
Step into your power, write your own rules and succeed in your career
Now, any of those books may be very good in their sphere. But what really struck me was that the first title I could find that came anything close to expressing the kind of leadership that Jesus taught was way down at number 54 on the list of books that came up in my search:
Continue readingWho is the greatest?
Those above a certain age will remember the television series Dallas which ran for thirteen years from 1978. I don’t mind admitting I was addicted to it. It told the stories of the two brothers Bobby and J R Ewing and their constant power struggles with each other and with people like Cliff Barnes for control of the Texas oil industry. There was surely no-one who had not heard of J R Ewing. Dallas was briefly revived a few years ago.
J R Ewing became infamous for his lust for power, and his determination to have power whatever the cost. And one line he said in the revival has stuck in my mind ever since, at it seemed to be so true of many people who achieve power in our world. At the age of 80, still craving power and money, J R says his son John Ross: Nobody gives you power – real power is something you take. Continue reading
View from the Valley 