Tag: God

Using Our Time Well

The year is almost half over. How are you doing with your goals?

Our goals must be important and, at times, urgent?

If we have been procrastinating the necessary actions to accomplish our goals, we have no time to waste.

If we are waiting to decide what is most important, we have no time to waste.

With so much to do, people to lead to Christ, Christians to strengthen in faithfulness and personal growth, time is of the essence. No commodity is more valuable than our time.

Let us use the time God has given us wisely and never be known for wasting it.

Wisdom

Wisdom involves experience, knowledge and good judgment. Wisdom is often described as the proper application of knowledge and experience.

Leaders today must pursue the right source of wisdom. Scripture is clear and the application is significant.

Leaders who seek wisdom should ask God for it. When dealing with the trials of life, God is willing to give wisdom to those who ask in faith.

The qualities of God’s wisdom must be known and practiced: pure, peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.

Wisdom can be learned by experience and from others. This allows leaders to base their leadership on the guidance provided by God.

Scars

Scars come in many forms. We may have physical scars left from an accident or surgery. We may also have emotional scars left from the pain of loss, hurt, or embarrassment.

David Rossi says, “Scars show us where we have been; they do not dictate where we are going.”

Emotional scars have a profound impact on where we are in the present. Pain, hurt, or embarrassment often alter our view of the world around us.

We have a responsibility to ensure a better future for those we lead. God’s family provides a refuge for those who are hurting, and we have an opportunity to change where we are going.

The Faith of Leadership

When leadership is guided by God’s word, the results are significant.

There is confidence in knowing the direction is guided by God Himself. The wisdom and knowledge of God is the basis for the direction in His word. Leaders cannot go wrong with His guiding hand.

God’s word provides the greatest purpose for character formation. Leaders begin with developing themselves, and then lead others to demonstrate Christ-like character.

Leaders know there is strength when grounded in the truth. Overcoming the obstacles of leadership requires strength, not personal strength, but spiritual strength that is only found in truth.

Let us always lead by the faith.

Knowing God

Spiritual leadership involves qualities, traits, virtues, and principles that are instrumental in guiding one’s character formation.

The foundation is to know God.

Jesus said eternal life aligns with knowing God and the One sent by Him.

Paul also spoke of the significance of knowing God by claiming his willingness to count everything as loss for the “surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:8).

Heritage, material possessions, academic achievement, and religious position were all worthless in view of this knowledge.

Leadership God’s way is driven by a passion to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord.

God’s Workmanship

In his letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul paints a beautiful picture of what God creates in Christ Jesus, described as “His workmanship.”

The root form of this word means “to make happen.” God is instrumental in making a new creation happen through Christ Jesus (cf. 2 Co. 5:17).

The idea further indicates the purpose for which we have been made His workmanship: to make good works happen that were previously prepared by God.

An application to leadership seems obvious. God has given leaders an opportunity to lead in the greatest work on earth, the workmanship of God to make His will happen.

A Gentle Leader

Gentleness is opposed by those who foster aggression, self-promotion, and who aspire to positions of power.

Three thoughts help create gentleness in our lives: altering our posture through prayer, learning to yield, and spending time with those of “no account.”

Kneeling in prayer and speaking to God about those who have wronged or angered us increases the difficulty of speaking harshly to them.

Humility takes pride out of the picture when we demonstrate a willingness to yield our will to that of someone else.

The spirit of hospitality reaches out to those who do not have status or a position of power in the eyes of the world.

Leading with Faithfulness

God’s faithfulness is a characteristic leaders must demonstrate toward others.

Leaders cultivate faithfulness in several ways.

Celebrating God’s abiding presence. When we lift up our God in worship it serves as a reminder of His faithfulness to us.

Making and keeping promises demonstrates to others the example we follow in the faithfulness of God.

Telling the truth also strengthens the confidence of others in our faithfulness in all areas.

When leaders are faithful, there is a confidence and trust built among followers. When confidence and trust exist, unity will result.

Good Leaders

God alone is unequivocally good. Jesus indicates this in his discussion with the rich young ruler (Mk. 10:18).

As leaders, we are created with the capacity and potential for goodness, stemming from our being created in His image.

If God alone is good and humans are capable of good only through Him, then knowing what counts for good can also only be determined under the guidance of God’s Spirit.

Leaders can cultivate goodness by learning to acknowledge wrongs, attending to God’s word, and imitating the saints.

When leaders are characterized by goodness, a self-awareness, an upward attention, and an outward activity follow.

A Patient Leader

Biblical patience has an object, not patience for the purpose of patience, but for the sake of another.

The obstacles to patience include segmenting, regulating, and hoarding time, as well as, exalting productivity and the desire for speed.

Patience can be cultivated by remembering our relationship with God, including God’s patience with us in those times we were stumbling through life trying to determine our place in God’s redemptive story.

We also cultivate patience by thinking of time differently––as a gift instead of a commodity.

Demonstrating patience helps support the strength of leadership as others are led to see the working of God through Christ in their lives.