Khrushchev’s Heckler
Sometime in the 1950s, former Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev gave a speech denouncing the crimes of his predecessor Joseph Stalin. During the speech, a heckler interrupted Khrushchev and asked why he did not stop Stalin. Khrushchev did not see the heckler, and asked “Who said that?” When no one responded, Khrushchev replied, “Now you know why I didn’t stop him.”
Khrushchev did not use rhetoric and rationality argue his position. All he had to do was replicate the visceral feeling of fear in the mind of his heckler. That was more convincing than any argument he could have made.
The Parable of the Mad Man
In his book, The Gay Science, German philosopher, Friedrich Nietzsche, tells the story of tells the story of a man who ran into a marketplace yelling that he seeks God. The people begin mocking him instead of helping him. In response, the madman then proclaims that they have killed God, and that everyone is responsible for his murder. Although Nietzsche was an atheist, he used the parable to highlight what happens in a society that pushes God out of its consciousness in the name of scientific innovations and technological breakthroughs. A society that has ejected God has no foundation upon which it can erect its morality and ethics. For people living in such a society, everything else loses its meaning and value – leaving people feeling lost and uncertain without a sense of identity and purpose.
Subtractive Changes
In their paper titled, People systematically overlook subtractive changes, Adams and colleagues conduct a series of experiments where participants were asked to improve various designs, such as recipes, golf course layouts, travel itineraries, and Lego bridges. Despite scenarios where subtracting was the better strategy for improvement, participants overwhelmingly kept on adding to the designs. This tendency is likely due to the fact that people simply did not consider subtraction as a possibility and instead instinctively defaulted to adding. This may explain why individuals often find themselves adding more to their already busy schedules, or why some interventions cause more harm when they are introduced into a system.
Identity-Based Excellence
Daniel 1:8 says, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, nor with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.”
To manifest excellence, you must have a God-inspired identity. Daniel’s example illustrates this point. He was determined and uncompromising about his convictions, but at the root of his convictions was his identity as an Israelite Jew. Daniel saw himself as a member of a nation chosen to be in covenant with God, and this sense of identity governed every aspect of his life.
In the same way, you need to find your identity in God’s Words and who He says you are. The devil will try to shake your sense of identity by tempting you to shift our sense of worth away from who God says you are. But it is only when your identity is centered in God’s Word that you can manifest excellence in everything you lay your hands to do.
