Hospitable Leaders Recognize Their Potential to Transcend
Hospitable Leaders Recognize Their Potential to Transcend
James Sire wrote that human beings are “created in the image of God and thus possess personality, self-transcendence, intelligence, morality, gregariousness, and creativity.”1 Because we are like God, we share many of His attributes, though in limited ways. In order to see the characteristics that are stamped in the heart of every human being, we only have to take a look at God.
We have personality, or self-consciousness; we are conscious of ourselves and have the ability to make our own decisions. We have intelligence; we are born with the ability to think. We have morality, the aptitude to discern good from evil. Moreover, we are gregarious, or social, beings.
I want to focus on the other two characteristics Sire mentions—self-transcendence and creativity. They provide the foundation for the privilege and responsibility of causing preferred futures. God specifically wired us to transcend and affect present realities and to create realities that do not yet exist.
All human beings are born with self-transcendence—the ability to rise above temporal circumstances in order to influence their environment. By environment, I don’t mean Earth Day stuff—recycling, saving whales, or driving hybrid cars—although we must steward our physical environment. What I’m talking about is this: we have the inborn power to influence the environments of our lives and others’ lives, to change the way things are, and to cause preferred futures to come into existence.
If we could draw a circle around everything that exists, we would see God outside the circle.
He is independent of and completely unconstrained by His environment. He can make decisions and act toward whatever is in that circle. He has transcendence. Most of us instinctively understand this concept. What many of us do not understand, however, is that part of being created in God’s image means that we have self-transcendence.
While God’s transcendence is constrained only by His character, meaning He can will and act only in ways that come from His infinitely good nature, our transcendence is limited to a much greater degree. However, if you were able to draw a circle around everything you can manage, make decisions about, or impress upon in a meaningful way, you would probably be surprised how large that circle could be. There would certainly be many, if not most, things concerning your “self.” In fact, part of the evidence of God’s Spirit affecting our lives is the concept of self-control.
“The Bible teaches us that “the fruit of the Spirit is . . . self-control” (Gal. 5:22–23 NKJV). We can resolve what to do or what not to do about ourselves, and we can act accordingly.”
We have transcendence.
Nevertheless, there are many things we cannot change. You cannot individually manipulate the global economy or determine whether your spouse dies from a heart attack or help being born with only seven fingers. For example, each of us is born with genetics predisposing us to certain medical conditions, bone structure, or eye color. We cannot, with our thoughts, add one inch to our height. I have also sadly learned that regardless of effort, we cannot add any significant hair follicles to a head predetermined to male-pattern baldness.
But even concerning these outside-our-circle-of-control things, we can still practice what I call reactive transcendence: we can choose how to respond to negative life realities.
The profoundly wise “Serenity Prayer,” popularized by the 12-step movement, echoes both reactive and proactive transcendence: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”2
I think many of us focus our attention on “the things I cannot change” part of this prayer. Shouldn’t we also fervently plug into “the things I can change” part? Shouldn’t we practice proactive transcendence?
“One of the greatest disgraces in life is when we accept the things to which we should take exception. We should be asking ourselves: What can I do? How can I make a difference? Where can I be an influence? ”
Theologians say that God is both transcendent and immanent; He is out there, and He shows up here. God decided to get involved in the world over which He has transcendence. This is the nature of God. For God so loved the world that He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to heal and restore humanity’s brokenness (John 3:16). God “became a human and lived among us” (John 1:14 NCV).
Just as He shows up, we need to show up. We must recognize our potential to transcend—as God did and does—to make decisions, to act, to change things.
Jesus influenced the people He hung out with. He gave them the power to change. He challenged them to become leaders themselves. And when they did, they led a revolution that changed the world forever.
As hospitable leaders, we should do the same.
What are you doing to make a difference? Drop a comment and tell us about it.
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James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door , 5th ed. (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2009), 32.
“Serenity Prayer,” Alcoholics Anonymous, http://www.aa.org/en_pdfs/smf-141_en.pdf.
Adapted from Live Ten (Thomas Nelson) and The Hospitable Leader (Baker Publishing Group) by Terry A. Smith. All rights reserved.