Energizers & Drainers - People Skills (part 2)

Posted on April 23, 2014.
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Three kinds of people fill every group, including the church. 

  • The energizers-their very presence makes us feel better, buoy our spirits, and fill our tanks
  • The regular people-they may not buoy our spirits, but they don’t demoralize us either. They make up the largest group. 
  • The drainers-they sap our joy and can ruin our day 

The main difference between the energizers and the drainers are their expectations of you. The energizers don’t place great expectations on other people. The drainers do. It is hard to measure up to the expectations of a drainer.

Another way of looking at it is this: energizers don’t usually want something from you.  They usually look to encourage and bless you in some way.  Drainers almost always want something from you and rarely leave encouragement for you.

Our tendency is to put an inordinate amount of effort and attention into our drainers.  When our M.O. becomes ‘I am as you desire me,’ we have lost the very thing that will enable us to minister effectively: our authenticity.

Your job and mine is to say to God, just like Jesus, “Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.’ (Hebrews 10:7)

Not everyone liked Jesus. Not everyone will like us. And that’s ok. We see how Jesus handled those who were drainers…

  • Jesus retreated regularly to refresh himself and seek God.  (The crowds were often drainers for Jesus, always wanting something from him and expecting things of him.)
  • Jesus balanced his drainers with his energizers.  Consider the time that he put into the small group of his 12 disciples.
  • Jesus didn’t allow the drainers to deter him from his plan and purpose. Although Jesus regularly spent time away from his drainers, he never got rid of them. He still had to contend with them.

It is impossible to please every person, particularly those who are drainers.  Our goal should be to be God-pleasers (Galatians 1:10) who love on people (Galatians 5:14).

I want to encourage you to make an application of this by taking a step: can you move towards becoming an energizer?  We don’t have to stay where we are.  We can move and change.  Do a little self-evaluation…

  • Am I usually looking for something from somebody, or am I usually looking to give to others and bless and encourage them?

Let’s make the commitment to be an energizer to those around us.