Who’s In Your ‘Cabinet’?

Leaders of organizations have a team around them. Executives. Trusted advisers. A group of experts in a variety of areas whom the leader can rely on.

Similarly, since the inception of the United States, the president has assembled a team of executive officers around him called his Cabinet. Cabinet members provide insight on topics in which they have a demonstrated expertise.

What if each of us formed our own personal cabinet – a group of advisers assembled to provide counsel on an array of important life topics? If you weren't sure whether to buy or lease your next car, you’d call your Secretary of the Treasury. If you weren't sure whether to take a new job, you’d call a session with your Secretary of Labor.

Your “cabinet” is likely not that formal, but I hope you have a few wise individuals you can turn to when you need wise counsel. I have one friend who serves as my Treasury Secretary. When I have a question on personal finance, I know I can bounce what I’m thinking off of him to either validate what I’m doing, or offer better options.

Hopefully, your advisers include one or two high-caliber technology geeks. I call these my co-Secretaries of Education, educating me in an area where I know just enough to be dangerous.

When I need to tackle a parenting challenge, I have a couple of trusted, godly dads who serve as my Secretaries of Homeland Security.

I consider my wife my Chief of Staff – the person I consult with on virtually all decisions of significant consequence.

God speaks into our lives a number of ways. Certainly, He speaks to us through prayer; by reading and meditating on His word; and through His Holy Spirit, which guides us daily once we release our lives to Him. But God also places fellow believers into our lives to speak wisdom to us when we need it most. “Where there is no counsel, the people fall; but in the multitude of counselors there is safety.” (Proverbs 11:14, NKJV)

I’m thankful that God has placed wise people in my life who can complement the gifts He’s given me. Have you ever stopped to think about who’s in your cabinet? Do you have a “multitude of counselors” you can turn to? Do you have any cabinet positions that could use filling in your life? Pray that God would bring the right people into your life.

Contributed by Rich Bennett