6 ways to help you filter opinions
By Rob Wiltshire
As a leader, you have lots of voices bouncing around in your head.
You have the opinions of other people, you own, and Gods. You should do this; you shouldn’t be doing that. This is not right; a little less of x or a little more of y, would make z better. You know the conversations; someone always knows how it should be done.
And you know what, sometimes they do, and sometimes they don’t.
Let’s be clear. There are times that what people say you need to take on board. However, just because someone has apparent sound logic behind what they are suggesting, doesn’t always make it right.
When it comes to leadership isn’t this our constant battle? Sifting through all the different opinions earnestly trying to keep in step with what God originally placed in our heart to do.
Man…that can be hard!
Didn’t we all start out in ministry/leadership with an idea of what it is God has asked us to do? Lead people into a deeper relationship with Jesus, help people connect with the heart of God, build leaders that lead…etc.
But with every commission from God, there is also the suggestion of how it should be done others.
Adam and Eve in the opening pages of Genesis had this same struggle.
Genesis 2:15-17
The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."
Simple right?
Work the garden, and eat anything and everything… except this fruit.
Genesis 3:6
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Everyone has their own opinion on what is good. Eve — being deceived by the serpent, came to the conclusion that the fruit she was looking at was good for food, desirable to the eyes, and would increase their wisdom.
Her opinion perhaps was; this fruit will help us. It will give us energy, it is tasty, and it will increase our wisdom that will in-turn revolutionise how we are currently working the garden; and it will make us like God.
As you know they eat the fruit, God turns up; they confess what they have done and God disciplines them. But it’s what God says to Adam that is worth noting here.
Genesis 3:17
And to Adam he said,
"Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
'You shall not eat of it'
Let me word it another way… Because you have listened to a voice other than mine.
Adam chose to follow a voice other than Gods. And because of that they were banished from the garden.
Opinions are everywhere in leadership. And in all honesty, a large portion of opinions are good if not great opinions. But good and great opinions aren’t always the right ones to follow.
The right opinion is following Gods voice, doing what he says rather than what everyone else says.
So to help with that here are 6 ways to help you filter opinions
6 ways to help you filter opinions
1. Is it on Mission?
Mission simply is this: “It is what you do. “
Worded another way, it is what God has called you to do.
As a church our mission is to; “Embrace People, Embrace Jesus & Empower Leaders.”
A great test to run ideas through is the mission statement. Is this opinion going to help me further do what God has asked me to do, or is it going to distract me from that?
Plenty of opinions are great opinions that don’t advance your mission statement. If it’s not on mission, it’s not on.
2. Is it on Vision?
This one is similar to the first, but let me clarify further. “Mission is what you do, and vision is what you see.”
Vision is what you believe God has called you to become. You may not be that now, but your belief is, that is what you are becoming.
Our Vision as a church is; “A Church Where the Unchurched Discover Faith.”
We believe our role as the church is to reach out to people who are currently outside of the church and invite them in.
So perhaps the opinion is on mission, but is it going to move you closer to the vision God has placed on your heart?
3. Just because something is edible doesn’t make it right
When you are in leadership you have people come to you with great looking ideas, that bring with them the promise of great fruit. The question more often than not isn’t, “What is a good idea, and what is a bad idea?” but the question is more. What is in line with the direction God has called me to go?
Just because something is a good idea, doesn’t make it a God idea.
4. Check your own thoughts.
I don’t know about you, but I have lots of different ideas. And all of my ideas a brilliant.
Well at least so I think.
Frankly, that is far from the truth. I have plenty of ideas, but not all should ever be acted upon. Not because they are evil or un-holy, but because they would be a distraction from the mission God has for me.
A classic statement here would be, “The mission never changes, only the method.”
There is nothing wrong with discovering a new way of accomplishing the mission, as long as it’s not a new mission.
5. Sometimes you need to hit the kill switch
Passion is seductive. Passion entices you to start things that aren’t helpful to the mission nor vision, but you do it because the idea sounds good.
When that happens, the best thing we can do is; hit the kill switch, and get back on mission and vision.
But there is another part of this point.
Not everything is for life.
Not everything you start or are doing, was supposed to go forever. Perhaps at the start it was on mission and vision, but over time that has changed and it is not serving the purpose it once was.
When that happens, hit the kill switch.
6. Delightful but deadly
Some ideas are like this… they are delightful, but deadly.
They look good, but in the end lead to death.
For instance, you keep taking on more and more because every idea is helpful to the mission and vision; but in turn, you burn out.
I bet as a child you’d have heard the saying, “Your eyes are bigger than your stomach.” Meaning, you took more food than you could possibly eat.
Leaders do this all the time. They keep adding more and more to their plate, without taking anything off. This only ends in one way. The death of something.
The death of a marriage, a family, a relationship, your sanity, your mental and physical health, etc.
We need to manage our appetite, and learn to say “no” even when what is being presented is a great idea that will advance both the mission and vision.