day 2156: Social Skills

“Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations,baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you.”

A paper by David Deming last year highlighted the rise of need for social skills in the workplace.  With all of our attention on the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) disciplines and the talking down of the softer skills it is not all that surprising that the STEM muscles have strengthened while the social muscles have atrophied.  But, as many things in our world, when we tilt too far in one direction we get pulled back and that seems to be what is happening now.  That’s good news for those who come from the Liberal Arts disciplines and not because they are charitably deserving of a hand up, but because we need their skills in order for our businesses to succeed.

Without a doubt there was need for hard skills in the time of Jesus.  Fishermen, carpenters, cooks, wine makers, shepherds, farmers, etc. were all used as examples of how our skills can be put to work, or not, for the glory of God. But it is clear that it the relationship between each other where Jesus is brought most to life.  Jesus commanded us to go into the world and spread his news and each and every day our social skills come into play in our ability to be effective in living up to that command.

Reference: Matthew 28: 19-20 (New Living Translation)

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