We need short and long term goals.
Initiating enthusiasm with the big picture in view can be easy. Visualizing the overall accomplishment the first few weeks and months is exciting.
The problem is maintaining enthusiasm and motivation along the way.
We get discouraged. We struggle. We tend to lose sight.
When we achieve success in smaller tasks, it is easier to stay excited about being involved in reaching the long term goals.
What legacy do you want to leave? Have you given thought to your legacy?
From a spiritual perspective, when you and I depart this physical world we should leave others in a position to do great things for the Lord without us. This is the heart of true legacy.
Choose who you want to carry on your legacy.
Pass on what you want carried on.
Don’t forget to model your legacy.
Leadership is not about the here and now, but the hereafter. If you build your leadership around this idea, the legacy you leave will have lasting rewards.
A leader must be a student of two worlds.
You must know the world you live in physically and spiritually.
You need to know the challenges people face in this world, the struggles, trials, and events on the national and international scene.
You must also know the world you are living for spiritually. Therefore, you must be a student of God’s word.
All you and I say and do now is building a foundation for what is to come. Our task involves helping others in this world reach the right destination in the next.
Sometimes, it only takes a few words to describe leadership. Donald McGannon said, “Leadership is action, not position.”
In the past, people were elevated to a position of leadership. Position did not make them a leader. They wore the title, but their leadership went no further.
What is it that indicates leadership? Simply stated, it is about action!
When the best interest of others is met by the action of spiritual leaders, leadership will not be about position.
Let the intent of our words be built on the foundation of our actions.
What do you see when you look at your coworkers, family, people you meet in your community, or your brothers and sisters sitting on the pew next to you each week?
Consider the golden opportunities everywhere you look.
God told Abraham to lift up his eyes and look in every direction. Jesus told the apostles to lift up their eyes and look at the fields white for harvest.
It is time for all of us to lift up our eyes and look. The door is open. What will we see when we look through it? What will we do?
The apostle Paul looked back on his life and wrote, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith.”
The terminology is past tense. He knew his time was well spent.
When we examine our lives as leaders, can we look back on our lives and influence in the Lord’s kingdom as time well spent?
There will always be areas we wish we could change. We must learn from them and make sure we do not repeat them.
Our time is to be used. I pray we will live in a way that we can look back and think it was time well spent.
Why does power appeal to so many in the role of leadership?
Does it involve authority?
Is it control?
Could it be decision-making?
Spiritually, the answer is, “NO!”
Power involves the ability to do something or act in a specific way that influences the behavior and direction of others.
Power is about God’s ability to direct and influence the behavior of others.
The word of the cross is God’s power to save. It will save you and me. Our only power comes by sharing it with others?
We often view the past with great fondness.
We may look to the past with regret over words or actions we cannot change.
We also learn from the past with hope of greater opportunities for the future.
Our leadership must focus on the future. We do not lead people where they have been, but where they need to go.
Paul knew the regret of words and actions from his past, but he chose to focus on what lies ahead.
We, too, must remember the work of spiritual leadership. When it comes to the past, acknowledge it, learn from it, and leave it where it is.
Focus on the future.
All leaders face problems. Arnold Glasow said, “One of the true tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.”
What helps us with these problems before they become emergencies?
Address problems when they arise. Waiting for problems to resolve themselves, or ignoring them, is a denial of our role as leaders.
Rely on wise counsel. Resolving problems based on our own wisdom and experience can be effective, but Solomon teaches the value of wise counsel.
Learn to delegate. Get others involved in problem resolution. Assigning tasks to others will help create confidence in their ability to reach a solution.
Our task is to seek a resolution based on God’s word. Here, and only here, can real solutions be found.
Are we consumed with work because we find value in the job, or are we passionate because of the difference it makes in the lives of others?
Our value comes from God. We are created in His image and covered by the blood of His Son.
Value based in work becomes an insatiable task.
Spiritually, if we are passionate about leading others to a greater relationship with God, the perspective changes.
When we have an intense desire and enthusiasm for the work of the Lord, there is a sense of love and joy in fulfilling the true purpose of life.
Spiritual leadership is worth being passionate about and loving.