Luke 5:17-26
One day while he was teaching, some Jewish religious leaders and teachers of the Law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was upon him. Then—look! Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to push through the crowd to Jesus but couldn’t reach him. So they went up on the roof above him, took off some tiles, and lowered the sick man down into the crowd, still on his sleeping mat, right in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven!”
“Who does this fellow think he is?” the Pharisees and teachers of the Law exclaimed among themselves. “This is blasphemy! Who but God can forgive sins?” Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he replied, “Why is it blasphemy? I, the Messiah, have the authority on earth to forgive sins. But talk is cheap—anybody could say that. So I’ll prove it to you by healing this man.” Then, turning to the paralyzed man, he commanded, “Pick up your stretcher and go on home, for you are healed!” And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped to his feet, picked up his mat and went home praising God! Everyone present was gripped with awe and fear. And they praised God, remarking over and over again, “We have seen strange things today.”
Food for thought!
Some men wanted to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus, but co couldn't get him there because of the crowds that blocked the door into the house where Jesus was teaching. The crowd was too much to beat. The four men could not compete with the crowd; they were out numbered. These men had either to give up or invent some new way of getting to Jesus. So the four men took their friend where there were nobody, onto the roof of the house, broke up the roof and lowered their friend down to Jesus through the hole in the roof.
What we learn from the four men is to shift from competing with crowds and create new market space and hence making the competition irrelevant. In other words, shift your strategic focus from current competition to alternatives and non customers; shift from competing to creating new market space and hence making the competition irrelevant; redefine the problem the industry focuses on and thereby reconstruct buyer value elements that reside across industry boundaries.
Like the four men we need to stop competing and create new and uncontested markets for our business that makes the competition irrelevant. The four men succeeded because they realized that to win they needed to stop competing with the crowd. In other words, the only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition. Yes, competition is irrelevant because the four men changed the rules of the game.
We have to break the routine. People were fighting to get to Jesus through the door, and many could not. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you should ask yourself the alternative industries to your industry? Why do customers trade across them? By focusing on the key factors that lead buyers to trade across alternative industries and eliminating or reducing everything else, you can create a totally new market space.
To succeed like the four men we must break out of the accepted boundaries that define competition. Instead of looking within these boundaries, let's look across them to create new ways of doing business, of doing things, of living. Let's look across alternative industries, across strategic groups, across buyer groups, across complementary product and service offerings, across the functional-emotional orientation of an industry, and even across time. This is what the four men did.
These four men who brought their friend to Jesus were willing to do whatever it took to get their friend to the Lord. They dared to do what was difficult. Whenever you are faced with a choice between doing two things, always choose the most difficult and the most unlikely thing. That's where the blessing is lying disguised.
One day while he was teaching, some Jewish religious leaders and teachers of the Law were sitting nearby. (It seemed that these men showed up from every village in all Galilee and Judea, as well as from Jerusalem.) And the Lord’s healing power was upon him. Then—look! Some men came carrying a paralyzed man on a sleeping mat. They tried to push through the crowd to Jesus but couldn’t reach him. So they went up on the roof above him, took off some tiles, and lowered the sick man down into the crowd, still on his sleeping mat, right in front of Jesus. Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the man, “My friend, your sins are forgiven!”
“Who does this fellow think he is?” the Pharisees and teachers of the Law exclaimed among themselves. “This is blasphemy! Who but God can forgive sins?” Jesus knew what they were thinking, and he replied, “Why is it blasphemy? I, the Messiah, have the authority on earth to forgive sins. But talk is cheap—anybody could say that. So I’ll prove it to you by healing this man.” Then, turning to the paralyzed man, he commanded, “Pick up your stretcher and go on home, for you are healed!” And immediately, as everyone watched, the man jumped to his feet, picked up his mat and went home praising God! Everyone present was gripped with awe and fear. And they praised God, remarking over and over again, “We have seen strange things today.”
Food for thought!
Some men wanted to get their paralyzed friend to Jesus, but co couldn't get him there because of the crowds that blocked the door into the house where Jesus was teaching. The crowd was too much to beat. The four men could not compete with the crowd; they were out numbered. These men had either to give up or invent some new way of getting to Jesus. So the four men took their friend where there were nobody, onto the roof of the house, broke up the roof and lowered their friend down to Jesus through the hole in the roof.
What we learn from the four men is to shift from competing with crowds and create new market space and hence making the competition irrelevant. In other words, shift your strategic focus from current competition to alternatives and non customers; shift from competing to creating new market space and hence making the competition irrelevant; redefine the problem the industry focuses on and thereby reconstruct buyer value elements that reside across industry boundaries.
Like the four men we need to stop competing and create new and uncontested markets for our business that makes the competition irrelevant. The four men succeeded because they realized that to win they needed to stop competing with the crowd. In other words, the only way to beat the competition is to stop trying to beat the competition. Yes, competition is irrelevant because the four men changed the rules of the game.
We have to break the routine. People were fighting to get to Jesus through the door, and many could not. If you find yourself in a similar situation, you should ask yourself the alternative industries to your industry? Why do customers trade across them? By focusing on the key factors that lead buyers to trade across alternative industries and eliminating or reducing everything else, you can create a totally new market space.
To succeed like the four men we must break out of the accepted boundaries that define competition. Instead of looking within these boundaries, let's look across them to create new ways of doing business, of doing things, of living. Let's look across alternative industries, across strategic groups, across buyer groups, across complementary product and service offerings, across the functional-emotional orientation of an industry, and even across time. This is what the four men did.
These four men who brought their friend to Jesus were willing to do whatever it took to get their friend to the Lord. They dared to do what was difficult. Whenever you are faced with a choice between doing two things, always choose the most difficult and the most unlikely thing. That's where the blessing is lying disguised.
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