May 22. When Good Isn't Good Enough.

Supply and demand are two basic economic rules. Businesses of all types are involved in a value exchange of products and services, and they attempt to meet the demand of internal and external clients. But demand is not equal to long term profits.

This is especially true when the demand or the customers making the demand do not fit your companies "why." The demand and the customer must be a right fit or our company probably is not the proper value proposition. This is true regardless of how amazing your company is.

This is true regardless of how wonderful the customer is or how profitable the demand might be. The human attitude of greed can weave its way into our transactions, and when it does the value proposition gets polluted. Where have you met demand in the last ninety days that seems to be unprofitable or a wrong fit?

A wrong fit is like a size ten shoe on a size 6 foot. The foot will go in but to run will be sloppy, clumsy, and probably result in someone falling on their face. What can you do to address any situation of a wrong fit?

It might be that you need to stop the value proposition and allow others to meet the demand. It might mean that you could take a proper fitting shoe back to the clientele that was fitted incorrectly. What is the first thing you can do in the next seven days about a loose fit?

Sometimes a good fit is not a good fit at all. In 1 Samuel NLT we read about King Saul dying. He is in battle and he loses. He, as well as his sons, are all lost in battle. But Saul's death is not a quick one. He is severely wounded but is left on the battlefield suffering. He asks someone to end it.

In 2 Samuel 1:10 NLT, an Amalekite does him in and thinks that he has done a good thing, so he continues his good deed by taking the crown and the king's things and delivers them to David. David accepts them and hears the story about Saul.

When David finds out that the Amalekite killed the king, he orders his men to kill the Amalekite after asking him why he thought he was the one to kill the anointed one of God. King Saul had a demand and the Amalekite met it by supplying a quicker death.

I think we can all relate to a point in our life when we thought that we were doing something good which turned out in a different manner. Our good does not have to turn disastrous to learn from it. It could be good turned into merely average or bad. Are we as brothers and sisters, focused on our supply of love and following Christ?

We have been asked to follow Jesus so do we choose to follow Christ? If so, is that what we allow to supply us? Will we choose to meet the world's demands? We might do well to rethink our supply and demand of our faith. What might be the new attitude that impacts our ability to love? What is the first thing you can do about your supply in the next seven days?

Let us pray, Jesus, It is hard to follow you at times. We are constantly barraged by demands. The faster pace of our economy, technology and world seems to inundate us. Help us to slow down to think about the energy of our love that we supply and demand of others.

Stop and take away other influences that sometimes make inappropriate demands of us. Guide us on our paths, where we are, so that the demand that we meet is yours. May we follow you. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen,