*Prayer request. I am having surgery today to remove the tumors. Would appreciate your prayers for a successful surgery and quick recovery.
1 John 3.18
“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.‘”
One of the core principles of the R Factor is that your R is an E for others. The way you Respond to events and situations produces an “event” that other people experience. Wisdom demands that you manage your R in a way that reflects the reality of Christ in your life and bears the fruit of the Spirit. That means managing your R in a way that displays the truth and love of Christ.
Not just in what you say, but in what you do.
Your R Factor is deeply personal but rarely private. It is personal because there are deep internal thoughts, feelings, and values that produce your behavior. It isn’t private because people experience how you respond.
A challenge is that we tend to be more aware of how other people affect us than we are of how we affect others. We often have blind spots because we tend to judge ourselves by our intentions, whereas other people judge us by how they actually experience us. For that reason, it is necessary to elevate your awareness of the impact you have on the people around you.
There are three ways you have an impact on people: your attitude, your action, and your words.
- People feel your attitude.
- People see your action.
- People hear your words.
These three elements are the currency of human interaction. It is how you make a difference in a business meeting, a project team, a family, a friendship, a classroom, an athletic team, or a church. Your R is an E for others. The people in your life—at work and at home—are deeply affected by your attitude, action, and words.
Alignment of the three elements is essential. What you say has credibility only if it is confirmed by your attitude and action. Words that are not validated by attitude and action are empty.
Here then is the question. At work … do you display the attitude, action, and words of the kingdom of God? Do people feel, see, and hear from you the love and lordship of Christ? Do you display the attitude, action, and words of someone who follows Jesus?
What about at home?
In the book of Philippians, the apostle Paul gives us instruction on the mindset we should have toward each other. Note that this perspective toward others is the result of your relationship with Jesus and the working of the Holy Spirit in your life. Note also that Paul admonishes the Christian community to have this mindset. It is a collective attitude, not merely individual.
“So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.” (Philippians 1.1-2)
At the heart of this mindset is a spirit of humility, which means rejecting the natural impulse to be self-centered and adopting a mindset that intentionally thinks about and considers the interests of others.
“Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1.3-4)
