Stepping Up

“Stepping up our functioning means more than just thinking about it; it means actually doing it with other people.” I heard a couple of variations on this statement this week as the Advanced Extraordinary Leadership Seminar in Bowen Family Systems Theory met.

Now, the thinking about it is important, too. Thoughtful reflection is vital in the process as it helps me to parse out where my actions are considered or merely automatic gut reactions. For the long haul though, I need to do more than just reflect; I need to act.

This is so true, as well, in my life as a follower of Jesus. It is good to think about what it means to be a disciple of the One who is God-with-skin-on, Love incarnate, the Word. What difference does it make to be a follower of the Jesus who ate with outcasts and the socially acceptable as well? I need to think this through and consider what it difference it will make in my life. If I stop there however, I am playing it safe. To be a follower of Jesus, I have to actually act on it. Otherwise, my thoughts mean nothing, zilch, nada.

Stepping up in my functioning means I have to actually do it with real people. Stepping up as a disciple means I have to actually act as a disciple in real time, with real people.

James 2:15-16

If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?