Christian sanctification is the process by which God’s grace works through the believer to make her into the image of Jesus. This is not her own doing. It is the work of God enabling the Jesus follower to love herself and love others unconditionally. The most important role of the believer is to let go of her own wants and desires and let the mind and likeness of Christ take over.
A non-anxious presence is somebody who knows what she believes and is able to express that in healthy ways, while remaining emotionally connected to others. This emotional connection is especially important in relation to those who are anxious, disagreeable and critical.
A non-anxious presence might still feel anxious inside. But she is able to regulate her own anxiety and pause long enough to let the grace of God take over so that her own anxiety doesn’t make a bad situation worse.
To me, Jesus is the epitome of a non-anxious presence. He knew what he believed and was not afraid to share it regardless of the criticism that might result. His focus was on defining himself, especially in relation to God.
Jesus rarely told others what they had to do. Instead he showed him the way and invited him to follow. When Jesus did call out the religious leaders of the day. he did so with metaphor, parable and asking pointed questions.
I believe the key to effective leadership today, especially in the church, is the ability to be a non-anxious presence. Some of this comes from doing the hard work of understanding one’s family of origin and how patterns of anxiety were formed.
More importantly, it is only through God‘s grace that we can get there. This is especially true in anxious moments. When we are able to pause before reacting automatically, we create space for God‘s grace to move in. This enables us to regulate our anxiety and do things differently than we would on our own.
If you want to be a non-anxious leader, do your own work, but don’t do it all by yourself. Let the grace of God do the real work. You will be amazed at what can happen. Thanks be to God!
