Change challenges us to our core, regardless of age. Anytime we encounter something different it makes us uncomfortable.

Bill Thrall made this amazing statement, “The only difference between a rut and a grave is the length.”

The quote should move us to realize we need to constantly learn, grow, and make the kind of changes to improve.

We must avoid our ruts, doing the same thing in the same way at the same time simply because we do not like change.

We need to rethink. If we stop growing and learning, what is the difference between the rut and the grave?

If we are old enough, we probably remember receiving our first AARP application.

Perhaps we threw it away, denying the reality of aging. Maybe we were excited to receive the benefits associated with an older lifestyle.

While AARP stands for American Association of Retired Persons, we may not feel quite there, at any age. Consider a leadership angle.

Accomplish: Leaders make things happen.
Attitude: Leaders set the tone for everyone. Invest in the right attitude.
Respect: Respect is earned and given. In order to receive it, we must be willing to give it.
Presence: Show up! Our presence provides security and direction for others.

Growing in leadership doesn’t always come with age, but we can work to put all the components in the right place.

Apart from academic definitions, perspective brings several thoughts to mind when viewed by two different parties.

A Christian perspective views life from a biblical foundation. What God says and the contrast of physical versus spiritual concerns provides hope in an eternal promise.

However, a worldly perspective tends to view life with uncertainty, fear, and doubt. The world’s philosophy can only paint a picture that is temporal and hopeless.

This is why spiritual leadership is so important.

Regardless of the pleasant or unpleasant possibilities in life, a Christian perspective always leaves us with the courage to face uncertainty with hope!

Have we seen the news lately? Is morality as bad as it seems? Can the economy be as poor as we are told?

With increasing negativity, we tend to fear the present and future. Combined with an awareness of disease, death, war, natural disasters, and more, we question Why? or What should we do?

Napoleon said, “Leaders are dealers in hope.”

Our work as leaders is to provide hope that no matter what happens now or 20 years from now, there is reason to rejoice.

We rejoice in the Lord. We rejoice in His promises. The world needs something more and we have what is needed. Deal out hope!

One of the greatest dangers for leaders is the desire to please everyone, or at least as many as possible.

Peter Drucker said, “Effective leadership is not about making speeches or being liked; leadership is defined by results not attributes.”

Decisions that produce results are often challenging because of the fallout from those who may be unfavorable to the decision.

If we spend our time making decisions that please everyone around us, our leadership will suffer and so will God’s kingdom.

Be decisive and put the gainsayers in God’s hands. Lead as God would desire.

We are familiar with the statement, “Know yourself,” but how does this connect to leadership?

Mainly, we need to know our strengths and weaknesses and spend an appropriate amount of time on each.

The basic idea is to spend the majority of our time working on our strengths, keeping them strong and growing. Then, find others who are strong in areas where we are weak and use their strengths to fill the gaps.

When we focus on our strengths and find others who maximize our weaknesses, we build a team for success.

Accountability introduces a number of thoughts.

There is the implication of what is required. We are required to be trustworthy, faithful, examples, and people of integrity.

There are certain expectations. If we expect little/more, we get little/more. When leaders make decisions, we expect to be held accountable.

There is an understanding of responsibility. If we are accountable, then certain responsibilities are connected to our decisions and actions.

We will all give an account for our deeds in this life, good and bad. How much more so for leaders who answer to God for leading His people?

We all love pictures. In times past, we kept pictures in hardcopy photo albums. Now, everything is done electronically. Either way, at times we look at a picture and think, “It’s perfect.”

We seem to know something is just right when we see it.

Does our spiritual leadership look picture perfect?

Perhaps the question we need to ask is how can we know if our leadership is picture perfect?

When we look at our leadership through the lens of God’s word, we discover the standard wherein our leadership must be measured.

To be picture perfect, we need to look deeply and make application.

A channel is defined as the conduit or path through which something flows. A channel of blessings, associated with our leadership, indicates the path or conduit through which others are blessed by our leadership.

We provide hope, not despair.
We offer possibility, not defeat.
We build up through promise, not degradation.

Scripture teaches us to bless our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. If we are to bless our enemies, we might do well to learn that our friends and followers deserve even better.

To summarize is to use fewer words to encompass the whole of the previous message.

If we were to summarize our leadership in a few words, what would we say? Could we express it in a word or two, or a sentence or two? Would our leadership be summarized by…

An “others-interested” or “self-interested” perspective?
A spiritual or physical focus?
Our past, present, or future?

In reality, the fewer words we use the more challenging it can be to summarize our leadership.

It is worth our time to think about summarizing our leadership.