Tag: God

Scared or Sacred?

Why is leadership so scary? Knowing that leaders deal with answering questions pertaining to goals, plans, maintaining morale, personality conflicts, providing resolution, etc., it does not take long to determine why the ground upon which leadership stands can be a scary place.

How do we overcome scared ground for sacred ground? God will help us overcome many challenges. Prayer helps us reach a more sacred footing rather than a scared one. Studying faithful people, such as in Hebrews 11, will also help us as we approach sacred ground.

It may not seem like much, but it is a start and sometimes getting started is half the battle.

Extraordinary Leadership

As Moses approached the burning bush he was told to remove his sandals because he was standing on holy ground. An ordinary bush became extraordinary because of God’s divine activity. His presence made this ground sacred.

God does the same throughout the Bible, even today. His presence takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary with divine activity.

Twelve men: fishermen, a tax collector, a zealot, and others who were ordinary people, yet with God working through them, all became extraordinary.

We need to recognize how God works through the events and people in our lives to take something ordinary and make it extraordinary.

Balanced Endurance

I was once given a small level inscribed with the phrase “man of God.” The passage associated with this thought was Isaiah 40:31.

The combination of the text in Isaiah and the visual image of the level communicates two powerful messages.

One, Isaiah indicates the man of God is one who is waiting for the Lord. Such activity is supported by obtaining new strength and an ability to tirelessly endure.

Two, the image of the level is a constant reminder that the man of God must remain balanced. Regardless of the challenges that tend to create imbalance, the man of God remains balanced/level.

Leaders need both.

Success

The bottom line does not always give an accurate assessment of success or failure.

When we gauge success strictly by the numbers we miss how God works to achieve His will. To God, success is found when husbands love their wives as Christ loved the church, when wives submit to their husbands as to the Lord, when children obey their parents, and when fathers train their children up in the Lord.

Success is found in the moral and ethical behavior of Christians in the world.

When Christians feed on the word of God, mature in their faith, and the pattern of leadership is followed, God sees success.

Forgiveness

Forgiveness is unique, meaning to “send away.” When God forgives, He sends our sin away. As David wrote, “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us” (Ps. 103:12).

While the arsenal needed to get through this life includes listening to God (study) and speaking with God (prayer), the promise of His strength keeps us focused. This is how we learn contentment, as Paul identified, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13).

When leaders learn to practice the difficult task of forgiveness, their ability to influence others increases.

Opportunities

Life is filled with opportunities. We may choose to pass or act on an opportunity. The possibility also exists that we will neither pass or act on an opportunity because we fail to see it.

Whether we see an opportunity or fail to see it, what a blessing to know God works in our lives daily. He provides us with opportunities to grow closer to Him, recognize the beauty of His handiwork, develop a stronger faith, help and encourage others, love family and friends, work and earn a living, remember those who changed our lives, and the list is unending.

Opportunities abound if we look.

Family

Spiritually, we are blessed by God to share in the fellowship of a spiritual family, His church. The beauty of this relationship is our oneness, regardless of the color, age, gender, nationality, educational background, or social status. In God’s family none of these matter. What matters is our relationship with God through Christ.

Physically, we are also blessed to have those we love and who love us. Our physical family is not always biological in nature. Whatever the bond that brings us together, there is something special about family. All of our relatives make us uniquely our own. We may not always agree, but we have each other.

Comparison

On one hand, we compare ourselves with people below us to feel better about ourselves. We develop a bit of arrogance thinking we are better than others.

On the other hand, we compare ourselves with people above us and our pride crumbles. We never measure up. We feel as though we will never amount to anything.

Both ideas are dangerous. Someone once said, “You will never fully believe in yourself if you keep comparing yourself to everyone else.”

God made us unique. He does not expect, nor does He want, us to be someone else. He simply asks us to follow the example left by our Savior.

Lifelong Development

Much has been said about leadership development as a lifelong process. Among the ideas expressed several are worth considering, such as the following:

Leadership is developed over time. God works throughout our lifetime to train us and give us the experience needed to develop our leadership.

Developing a leader can involve periods of suffering. Events occur throughout life that may involve periods of isolation designed to help us reflect and prepare for greater leadership.

Proper perspective is the goal of leadership development. As challenging as periods of suffering can be, they help shape our perspective to see God’s hand in the events of our life.

The Right Motive

People become leaders for different reasons. While there are those who lead from a place of selfish ambition, there are those who lead with the right motives, and the result is powerful.

Spiritual leadership is about leading with the right motives behind every thought, action, and decision.

Developing this motive is a process that consists of three key factors.

1) A personal relationship with Christ, but not separate from the collective body.
2) An understanding of Scripture, both the milk and meat of God’s word.
3) A compassion for the eternal condition of others, saved and lost.

These can help us check and develop the motive required for godly leadership.