Titles, Wanting Respect, and What's Left

I found out some hard news last week. We were laying off ten people in our company. This is, for us, a typical January. Last January we instituted a salary freeze. So, this year, we're going this road. I also found out that we were streamlining our management structure. At my company, we had five VPs, four directors, and a couple of managers. Now, we have four VPs, no directors, and four managers. Guess who's not a VP anymore? No, I'm not fired. I've been demoted.

I was a bit surprised when my boss called me and informed me of the decision. I have to admit I was relieved, too. I've been feeling squirmy (really, that is the best word, I promise) about this role; I've had to make decisions related to deciding who will have to be laid off; I've had to take ownership, not just look to my boss for answers; and finally, I've been reporting to the CEO, who is about 360 degrees opposite me in personality. After he told me the demotion news, I told him, "okay."

Yet, the more I thought about it, and the more meetings I realized I wasn't a part of, the less happy I felt. Actually, I felt rather...displaced. While the holidays were marching along, decisions had been made. I felt marginalized. My boss and the other VPs had discussed me and my position in the company. I felt a bit like having a pity party.

I went to church on Sunday and heard a sermon about "having rights." The text was from Matthew 5:38-42. 38 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I say to you, Do not resist the one who is evil. But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also. 40 And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. 41 And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. 42 Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you."

Tim said, and I paraphrase, we do not have rights related to human retaliation, possessions, our time, our money. These "things" are human-granted rights. We, as Christians, believe in personal self-sacrifice; but not through our own means, because if we did we'd exchange one set of morality for another. We believe in the sacrifice that comes from keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, who suffered the ultimate sacrifice. Only through the cross can we even attempt self-sacrifice. Here is the charge: "When you abandon personal rights, you gain every right that Jesus has been granted by his Father. In losing your life, you will find it."

My title - my silly title that I was ready to give away while I was a VP but then was feeling displaced over when it was taken away - was not given to me by my boss at my company. It was given to me by God. What I have at my job is what I have been blessed with. My days there are numbered by Him alone. And in losing the title, I remember that I have one true boss; One who will govern my days and keep me in the palm of His hand. I desperately needed this message at the time that it was given. I still have my moments of pity, particularly now that everyone at the company is coming to me saying, "What?! They took you out of that spot?" But I also needed this perspective.

When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. -- Dietrich Bonhoeffer