Getting From Good to Great

I used to wanna do it big.
when you're only focused on yourself - that's small (Lecrae - Chase That)

“Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works you do? (Deuteronomy 3:24; NIV 2011 Edition)

One of the most popular and best selling business/self-help books on the market is by  Jim Collins and it's called Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make The Leap...and Others Don't. To research for the book, Collins examined over a thousand businesses and found one common denominator between the great companies that the good companies did not have. It wasn't that these companies had a great CEO/leadership or were more technologically advanced than their competitors or even that they had the best staff members on the whole. No, the common denominator was a simple one.

Discipline.

Collins found that the companies that were "Great" were the ones that committed to a culture of discipline both in their actions and in their mindset. This one unifying habit works well in business and its something we can apply to our ambitions and daily walk with Christ. There are really only two options, we're working with (+) Him or against (-) Him.

Synergy (+). One of my favorite words in the English language is the word synergy. Synergy basically means two parts working together in rhythm to achieve something greater than themselves; something greater than the parts could achieve individually. We may be able to accomplish good things in life outside of Christ but in Christ our potential and ability grows leaps and bounds. It becomes great! Being in tune with God and operating in Him is like becoming a growing snowball that accumulates steam and size at a maddening pace. If we can be disciplined in abiding in Him, we can't even begin to imagine the great things that God will have in store for us.

Counter productivity (-). How do we know we're just being good and not great? Our thoughts and actions contradict the promises and abilities of God. Mentally we might psyche ourselves out of opportunities by saying things like "I can't do this" or "That goal is impossible for my life." These mentalities are counter productive to a life in Christ because God wants us to chase our goals and dreams. Counter productive actions include anything that can take us out of fellowship with Christ. We can't expect to butt heads with Christ and still expect the fullness of His abilities for our lives. That's an abuse of grace. We need to have the discipline to align ourselves with Him and not against. It may feel good to "just do me" or "do what I want" but the reality is that nothing good comes from a place of complacency and rejection of growth.

Are you working on going from Good to Great?

(Bonus Coverage: Lecrae's Chase That)