Start with WHO not WHY
How well you know yourself will determine your success in life. There is a subtle gap between “who” and “why”, but which has created a huge deficit is all spectra of human endeavor. Can you imagine when Moses asked God
Can you imagine, when Moses asked God who should I say sent me and God said “Just tell them I want to deliver them from Egypt? As true as it would have been, that was not God’s response to that question. God responded by saying “I AM WHO I AM - say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you.”
God first established His WHO [Identity] and then followed by describing what He wanted Moses to do and why.
In John 8:58, Jesus, God in human flesh repeated the same thing when they were trying to ridicule Him by saying “Before Abraham was, I AM.”
This is the foundational insight and solution to the on-going debate about which comes which comes first, the "who" or the "why".
That “who” is more important than the “why” plays out in every area of life and in our discuss.
Can you imagine someone asking, “who you are” and you answer with “what” you do and “why” you do it? It happens frequently, especially in professional setting and begs the question as to who is behind the “why” and “what”.
The writer of Alice in the wonderland was communicating the importance of “who”. When Alice, got to the fork in the road and did not know where to turn, was it because she did not know where or why she was going? Well, the clear answer is that she knew where she was going. She was looking for the rabbit. And the answer she got was that any choice was just as good. The problem with Alice was not her “Why.” Alice had an identity problem – struggling with her “identity and maturity.”
Julius Caesar when asked not to go to the Senate on the Idles of March, knew where he was going and why he was going there but first because he knew who he was – As constant as the northern stars he said. As ill-advised as of a statement, it was because of “who” he was.
If you are reading this blog, it is because of who you are in the content of your character. There is something about the blog that resonates with your identity first. The “why” and the “what” are secondary. You may have started with a why, but it is the “who”, that drives your interest in this blog.
Another way is to examine which comes first “who” or “why” is answering the question - “what is the cause or the reason for living? or what causes you to wake up in the morning and go to work, to solve a problem, to be concerned about poverty etc.” Is it your “why” or your “who”?
It is not the why but the who that comes first. The “why,” is first informed by the “who.” Without the “who,” there is no authentic why, and there is no authentic what.
Here are few things to consider.
1. Start with “who” so you will not put the cart before the horse.
2. Start with “who” so you will not dilute your potential impact and influence in life.
3. Start with “who” so you will not create unnecessary friction in your life and relationship as square peg in round hole.
4. Start with “who” so you do not get to old age and regret the choices you have made in life.
5. Start with “who” so you do not create a vacuum, the missing value you would have added to making the world a better place to live.
6. Start with "who" so you can build an authentic business enterprise.
7. Start with "who" so you will leave and enduring legacy.
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CONCLUSION: The gap between “who” and “why” is buried in the conscience of our heart and it has created a large deficit in all areas of life.
If we are to trace the reason the world is living undervalue today, we will surely arrive at this intersection between “who” we are and “why” we are.
And we don’t have to speculate.
The only reason we choose to identify ourselves with “what” and “why” and not “who” is because there is an unhealed aspect of the inner person about which we would rather not talk. The earlier we resolve that problem, the better our lives would be, the better our relationships, the better our businesses, and the better the influence, impact to make the world a better place. By working on the inner man, we will get the clarity of how to communicate our “why” with better understanding of who we are from the core of our being.
This is how to express and reflect the Beauty of the Glory of God who created us.
So, starting with “who,” one person at a time is the beginning of the solution to the problems of today's world.
