“What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them gets lost, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountain and go in search of the one that is lost?” Matthew 18:12 AMP
Every time I read this verse, the question that comes to mind is, “What if a wolf comes after the ninety-nine that were left on the mountain?”
In business, when you obsess over your market so much that you stop at nothing to solve the problems of those who may not know you yet, you reap the rewards.
The same happens for any leader who chooses to be held accountable. Whether you’re a parent, business executive, entrepreneur, or pastor, going after the one that is lost is interpreted as love.
Should you then leave those who have successfully danced to your tune?
This parable teaches love and why we must always have compassion for those who don’t know the truth that we know. But it also teaches something else.
Systems.
To confidently leave ninety-nine sheep on a mountain means that you are confident that nothing can happen to them. This can only be the case when you’ve put structures in place to protect your own.
How can we create systems around our work so that we sustain what has been created?
The ability to create systems is a learned skill. But understand that systems are not only physical but also spiritual.
When we hear the word “systems,” we often think about only business processes. But who said building a consistent prayer altar that invokes a wall of protection around your family 24/7 isn’t a system?
Or that creating a routine of meditating on God’s word and using that insight to conquer at work every day isn’t a system?
A system is simply a group of independent items or tasks that work together to form a functional unit that can operate repeatedly.
Think about your body and how you never have to consciously tell your brain to release chemicals into your body.
This is what happens when you can confidently leave ninety-nine sheep. An entrepreneur who decides to always go after a market that doesn’t know his offer is confident that markets that know his offer are protected through funnels, messages, and emails that he consistently uses to guard them.
A parent who confidently allows their children to go to university without feeling afraid can do that because, through their prayers, those children always have fire around them.
If you can’t confidently leave your version of the ninety-nine and go out in search of one, then you have a job to do.
“I choose to create the following systems starting from now…”
What new routines and tasks are you going to embark on to ensure that every day you can go out to work confidently, knowing that what you have created is secure?
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