We define ourselves in all kinds of different ways—by our jobs, our families, our faith—and that's obviously not a bad thing. It can cause problems, however, when we let the title become the most important thing about us, or let it blind us to what really matters, or perhaps worst of all, let it separate us from people we are called to love (See Marcus Goodyear's excellent Ten Commandments of Talking Politics on Social Media for more on what these problems can be). 

Titles are useful things, as long as we remember that there are real people behind the nameplates.

Want to hear more? You can find this and dozens of other interviews over at the High Calling YouTube Channel. 

TRANSCRIPT: What's the second thing you say to a person you've never met before? First is, "What's your name?" Second is, "What do you do?" And unconscientiously you do an evaluation of that individual on the basis of what they do. One of the joys of this men's group that I'm involved with is someone's in charge of a music department, another person is a banker, and another person is an ex-DA. We've learned, because we get to know each other well, that the titles don't mean anything. And you can get an insight from God from somebody that doesn't have a lot of degrees behind their name, but they're in touch with their faith and they communicate that. Wisdom can come from a lot of places you don't expect it and often from people that don't have titles. 

But speaking also in terms of the challenge of that, one of my prayers every day is I need not to think of my job in an idolatrous manner—that because I've been a CEO that makes me special or more special than someone else. That can be a false god.