August 21. Are You Bluffing?

Bluffing is a strategy for poker players, not entrepreneurs or leaders. What is the test to know that this is true? Could the test be to ask yourself, as a leader, where would bluffing provide value to the person you are bluffing? Would your employees appreciate you bluffing about a raise?

What would you think about a politician who bluffed? We do so much more by focusing on providing value than by faking our way through a value delivery process. We think through processes, develop resources, and engage people to deliver it all.

Where might you have some situations where you could be doing some bluffing? Using a bluff requires the right attitude to be effective. Rejecting the bluff as an unacceptable technique is also an attitude as well. Do you want any of your team to do any bluffing to you or your customers?

What is the first thing you can do about it in the next seven days?

Brothers and sisters, there is no place in our faith for bluffing that I can think of. We are called to either have the confidence to act or to not act. There is no in between. God does not need us to say anything towards a bluff because he can see the love or lack of it in our hearts.

“The wicked bluff their way through, but the virtuous think before they act.” Proverbs 21:29 NLT. We know the power of the bluff to harm others because we have seen examples of it in our lives and society. The bluff is so powerful because its purpose is to cause others to take an action because of the misinformation.

You can even be an inadvertent victim of a bluff. Maybe you miss getting a value because of what someone else does in a bluff. Imagine a coworker who would bluff about their capabilities and is assigned a task you desired. That is sad if you are more qualified for the task.

It is easy to take a victim mentality when we think about bluffs. But our challenge today is to recognize where we ourselves are bluffing. Where do you need to accomplish something im

portant in your faith? What steps can you take to honor the goal?

Make a thoughtful statement of action, make a promise, and follow through in these next ninety days. What is the first thing you can do about it in the next seven days?

Let us pray, Jesus, prepare our hearts to know that there are important steps in our faith to take. Light up our path so that we might not stumble. Help us to lean on our brothers and sisters to keep from falling. We do not want to bluff anyone. Remind us with your Holy Spirit, if we start to bluff.

Let us follow through so that we might honor the Father with our words and our actions. In the name of our Savior Jesus, we pray. Amen