Posted on by Adam

Position vs. Disposition

A lot of relational and offenses arise because people forget the difference between position and disposition.

“Position” = Your stance on a certain issue.
“Disposition” = The way you communicate yourself.

Okay so in case you’re not following me yet, here’s an example. Imagine that I’m your boss, and I need to make a change in your performance.

Scenario A: “Hey I love the quality of your widgets, but I really need you to step it up a notch in this area. Keep up the good quality!”

Scenario B: “What is your problem, Nerd?! You’re slowing down the whole line because you’re such an idiot. Hurry up and focus more – this part needs to be better!!” (Accompanied by negative nonverbal communication as well).

In both scenarios, the position was the same; you needed to perform better in a particular area. But the dispositions were drastically different.

Now here’s the catch – nobody ever sees past our dispositions. That’s so important that I’ll say it again: NOBODY EVER SEES PAST OUR DISPOSITION.

I wager to say that most misunderstandings are (for lack of a better word) *misunderstood*, and are actually a result of a bad disposition. This is a major portion of interpersonal conflicts, guys. This is actually kind of a big deal, at least as big of a deal as interpersonal communication is.

Your disposition needs to remain a positive one as much as possible, but its essential that it remains positive if you ever need to confront another on a sinful issue or concern. Christian screw this up all the time. Bad disposition is what turns a Christ following disciple into a bigot.

Bigots would say:
“Oh my gosh you did what?! You do know what you did was wrong, right? You’re such a sinner. I can’t believe I’m even talking to you. You ought to repent and READ YOUR BIBLE right now. Maybe you’ll stand a chance to not wind up in hell!”

Such a bad disposition! Nobody ever sees past that! Because of so many confrontations like that, it has caused the spirituality of so many Christians to dry up. We fear confessing our sins to one another because of it. Perhaps worse, we fear confronting another person on their sin because we fear sounding like it.

But we need to remember its not our position that’s the problem, its our disposition.

With a good disposition, we can lovingly and caringly challenge another Christian to live holy: “Hey, recently I seem to have noticed a lot of bitterness in you. You doing okay? Is there anything I can do to help?”

Christianity aside, far too many leaders in the workforce don’t ever make adjustments to their staff because they’re scared of being the meanie. I think this is a major reason leadership suffers so much in our nation – nobody wants to be the mean guy; everyone is scared of their disposition. But folks, its not the position (good employees WANT feedback), its the DISposition.

Wouldn’t our relationships be so much better if everyone read this blog?

Let’s get real, though – they won’t.

But you did.

Remember how I said that “NOBODY SEES PAST YOUR DISPOSITION”? Well, that’s not entirely true. You can. If you think about it. Sometimes people can be 100% wrong in their disposition but can be 100% right in their position. That position is what we need to listen for. It’s hard sometimes, but we need to get past HOW someone says something and actually hear what they’re saying. When they say something about you, it can be incredibly hurtful. When “corrections” are thrown at you in an insulting way, they may actually be only 1% right and 99% wrong in their position.

But that 1% of truth may make 100% of the difference in your life, if you’re smart enough to listen for it.

3,804 Replies to “Position vs. Disposition”

  2. I seriously love your site.. Pleasant colors & theme. Did you develop this web site yourself? Please reply back as Iím looking to create my own personal website and would like to know where you got this from or what the theme is named. Thanks!

  6. I blog frequently and I truly thank you for your content. Your article has truly peaked my interest. I am going to take a note of your website and keep checking for new details about once a week. I subscribed to your Feed too.

  8. Hello. Such a nice post! I’m really appreciate it. It will be great if you’ll read my first article on mycollegeessaywriter.com)

  9. Howdy! I could have sworn Iíve been to this website before but after looking at some of the posts I realized itís new to me. Regardless, Iím certainly pleased I stumbled upon it and Iíll be bookmarking it and checking back frequently!

  12. Howdy, There’s no doubt that your blog could be having internet browser compatibility issues. Whenever I look at your website in Safari, it looks fine however when opening in Internet Explorer, it has some overlapping issues. I simply wanted to give you a quick heads up! Besides that, fantastic website!

  15. Oh my goodness! Impressive article dude! Thanks, However I am experiencing issues with your RSS. I donít understand the reason why I can’t join it. Is there anybody getting similar RSS problems? Anyone that knows the solution will you kindly respond? Thanks!!

  18. May I simply say what a comfort to discover a person that genuinely knows what they’re talking about online. You definitely realize how to bring a problem to light and make it important. A lot more people must look at this and understand this side of the story. I can’t believe you’re not more popular because you certainly have the gift.

  20. The next time I read a blog, I hope that it does not fail me as much as this particular one. After all, I know it was my choice to read through, but I really thought you’d have something useful to say. All I hear is a bunch of moaning about something that you could fix if you weren’t too busy searching for attention.

  26. I needed to thank you for this very good read!! I definitely loved every little bit of it. I have got you book marked to check out new things you postÖ

  27. Hi, I do believe this is a great website. I stumbledupon it 😉 I may return once again since I book marked it. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide others.

  44. We are a group of volunteers and opening a new scheme in our community.
    Your web site offered us with valuable information to
    work on. You’ve done a formidable process and our entire group will
    probably be grateful to you.

  49. Aw, this was an extremely good post. Spending some time and actual effort to generate a top notch articleÖ but what can I sayÖ I put things off a whole lot and don’t manage to get nearly anything done.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *