The week before last I wrote a four-part post on how we need to constantly be checking our IBNO Status (our In But Not Of Status). I received a number of emails about these posts and it appears that the struggle of being in but not of is one that permeates just about every work place and person who is trying to live and work to God's Purpose. When it is all said and done, it is not easy to walk the earth and have all of the messages that come at us all the time and stay true to our values and principles, which, may sometimes overtly and sometimes subtly run counter to the ways of the world. The hard part of this is that for many of us in our work lives we don't want to be thought of as abnormal or not "with it". If we are too far outside of the normal then we become ineffective in what we need to do day in and day out. As I am now reading the book of Acts I am more convinced than ever that one of the reasons why Paul was so effective was that he had lived in the world for such a long time that when he decided that he would no longer be of it, that he knew how to relate and be seen as a person who others would respect and follow regardless of his beliefs. It seemed like he won over people no matter where he was in the world. That is our challenge as well. I ran across this poem by e.e. cummings that describes the struggle we all face:
"to be nobody but yourself - in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you like everybody else - means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight."
I don't know in what context e.e. cummings wrote that poem, but it rings true that in the checking of our IBNO status, we need to be cognizant that the fight is always there, the battle rages on and that our struggle goes from day to day, and all of these are winnable because we have God with us today, tomorrow and forever.
Reference: Romans 12:2 (New Living Testament)
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