Good Riddance to Bad CEOs

Good Riddance to Bad CEOs--August 31, 2016

"Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in the one body. And be thankful." [Colossians 3:13-15]

There is a little CEO in my heart (you, know, from business, a "chief executive officer") who thinks he runs everything and that the whole world revolves around him.  You have one, too. 

I don't know for sure what mine or yours looks like. I imagine mine as an aging man with a bad comb-over and small hands, a furrowed brow over glaring, beady little eyes, and a big blustery voice that yells all the time.  He's the worst.

That little CEO who lives in my heart (and who, by the way, kind of reminds me of the Business-man in de Saint-Exupery's classic The Little Prince) is my worst self--the version of myself who is always bent in on getting more, blaming others, puffing himself up, and throwing other people under the bus.  He is, I suppose, what other passages in the New Testament call, "the old self," or "the old Adam," or "the flesh" in me.  He never admits to doing wrong himself.  He always holds grudges with pettiness and petulance. He could never confess to having needs of his own. He is the voice inside me that always wants to "win" the argument, to rub it in someone else's face, to hold on to old bitterness, to drown out every other voice in the room with his own braggadocio, and to claim every good thing as his own accomplishment rather than a gift for which to be grateful.

And on top of all that, he is never satisfied.  The old self within me--the little CEO who lives in my heart--he always wants more.  He cannot be satisfied with what has been given me already in the day, and he is not satisfied simply to call the shots in my heart and my life--he wants more power to tell everybody else what to do.  But as long as he is the CEO of my heart, I will be forever dissatisfied, forever bitter, forever trying (and failing) at fooling the world into thinking I've got it all together, and forever stuck in strained relationships with other people because I will not be able to forgive or be forgiven.  Pretty much, that blustery little man who holds corner office space in my heart is running things into the ground, but keeps thinking he is great at "winning."  But that's the old, sinful self for you: totally self-delusional and totally self-centered.

Helpfully, the Bible gives very direct counsel for what to do with that sad little CEO who lives in my heart: fire him. 

It's just that simple. Show him the door. Pack up his belongings in a cardboard banker's box, and have security escort him out.  Tell him he does not call the shots anymore, and tell him you have finally seen that he was ruining your life from the inside out-- by keeping you from the freedom of forgiveness and the joy of being accepted as you are without embellishment or smokescreen.  Just tell him quite plainly, "Your services are no longer required," or if you are feeling more dramatic about it, "You're fired," and then breathe a sigh of relief that you don't have to take his garbled self-centered nonsense seriously anymore.  He is not in charge any longer.

All of that, really, is what the third chapter of Colossians means by saying, "let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts." To rule, obviously, is to get to call the shots in your life and your heart.  And if Christ and his way of peace are ruling there, well, then, there is no seat in the board room for that pathetic, blustery old CEO to be there anymore.  Of course, in the first century, when people thought of "rule" and "rulers," they most likely thought of kings and emperors; today, in the era of multi-national corporations and titans of industry and technology like Steve Jobs or Tim Cook, Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, maybe the image of the CEO is the best comparison.  But the point is the same, whether we are talking about ancient kings or modern-day company presidents: the old management has got to go.  And instead, we will find our greatest fullness, our greatest joy, and our greatest purpose when the peace of Christ is what calls the shots in our hearts.

Best of all, it's not like you have to "do" something to make Jesus the Lord--he already IS.  The Bible's word for our part is simply "let."  As in, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts..." and "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly..." To "let" is to allow, to permit, to release control.  It requires neither squinting nor straining, only surrender. It means recognizing that Jesus is Lord already over all the universe, and then recognizing that his way is infinitely better than the boastfulness and bitterness of the "old self," that arrogant old curmudgeon.  Let Christ's peace rule--let the way of Jesus, the way of mercy, the way of honesty about our own failings, the way of gratitude for blessings we did not earn--let all of that rule, and you don't have to listen to the rancorous ramblings of the old sinful self.

My goodness, we could be free.  Think of it--all the energy I waste holding on to the slights of what people have done to me and onto my old sense of entitlements.  Think of all the ways I have chosen to cut myself off from other people by choosing to see them as enemies, as threats, as people I need to compete with and win against in order to have worth.  What a total waste of my life.

The bottom line is that the life that is surrendered to Jesus' kind of peaceableness--radical honesty without the need to impress or "spin," radical mercy for me in my own sinfulness and for the person next to me who needs it the same, radical love that brings together people beyond the boundaries of culture or biology, radical gratitude that sees everything in this life as a gift of grace--that kind of life is what we have all been aching for.  It's just that somewhere along the way we bought into the filthy lie that the secret to fulfillment was in getting, and getting more: more applause, more recognition, more stuff, more "wins," more attention, more money, and more power.  And so we each hired that rotten old CEO inside our hearts to direct our aims--and he has been nothing but trouble ever since. 

But he doesn't have to work here anymore.  Jesus has already ripped up his contract and set us free from having to listen to that pompous blowhard anymore, whatever yours or mine really looks like.  Today, what if we stepped into grace's outstretched embrace and simply let the peace of Christ rule?  I bet our hearts will change....

Lord Jesus, reign and rule in our hearts today, and throw out the old bum of a boss who used to call the shots there. Be our peace and our guiding presence, and free us from the bad direction of our old sinful selves.  Change our hearts, Lord Jesus, by your grace.