“Innovate or Die”

I worked in industry for my previous career. It was only 17 years long between a late start and early retirement due to disability. But in that time, I was fortunate enough to have fallen into a niche that really didn’t exist when I started but has become a whole type of engineering. That meant that I was in middle management for most of those 17 years. That meant that I didn’t just do my job, I literally got involved in every aspect of the function of the business. With the exception of the 2 years I worked for a major entertainment company, it was all about Non-Disclosure Agreements and ultimate secrecy. In the other sectors, the companies all believed there was intense competition and slim margins. They all believed that somehow other companies would steal their newest improvements. This all meant that my sole purpose in life was to help factories make more product, faster, out of less material with less waste and lower costs. Many of these companies had a spoken or unspoken motto, “Innovate or Die.” I have often said in writing or from the pulpit that the church should look like a hospital. It should be full of sick people getting better. We cannot allow the church to be a hospice home where we go to slowly die. But that is on each of us, not just the pastor. We must be open to the love of God. We must let Him live through us. But to do that many of us have to allow Him to innovate us through the Spirit. Philippians 1:6 says that He will complete the good work that He began in us. But He has never been one to force Himself on us. If we back away from Him or just get distracted by the pressures of life, we can forget to rejoice in Him. A man who was both a great minister and admittedly broken man, Brennan Manning, had a habit of daily sitting with God and repeating, “I am yours Abba, I am yours.” Do we recognize that? Do we take time to be in relationship with Him? Or, are we just too busy? At the end of the day, we must all be willing to let Him innovate us, or we shall surely die.