If you have not read the previous three articles with the same title please do so before reading this one.
In the previous articles I dealt with the “Traps & Pitfalls” of leaders. One of the reasons for doing so was our need to see what causes leaders and believers in general to be great examples to follow and which examples we need to avoid lest we learn damaged values and try to emulate them.
This article has part 1 & 2 so please read the two previous articles with the same title before reading this one which is part 3. The purpose of the series is to look at the hunger amongst church people to embrace a leader because they speak well, while their conduct and treatment of the people in their congregation is less than Christ would expect from shepherds of his flocks.
If you haven’t read the first part on this subject of leadership, please read that first because there are four parts to this topic and to miss the first part would give a lopsided view of what a great leader is rather than a great talker.
Everyone has gifts that they are born with but those gifts need to be identified and nurtured in order to materialize and make a difference in their lives and the lives of those around them. Leadership is just one of those gifts one may be born with but never realized for many reasons. I believe many will go to their graves without ever identifying their God-given gifts and talents partly because those that had the power to help them didn’t mentor them or because the individual themselves weren’t willing to put in the effort to nurture their own souls to develop their personal gifting. This may sound a little cold and calculating but I believe history will back this up. I do not believe we are solely a product of our environment but are a combination of others, ourselves and God’s purposes in our lives. The question often comes up…….Isn’t God’s will always done? Isn’t he “Sovereign”?
Life has a way of showing us just how complex things are. I think when we are young we expect we can do almost anything until we have accumulated some failures under our belts. As bad as failure often feels, it teaches us what will and will not work; at least in the simple things. As we grow in knowledge and wisdom, we discover that some things can be challenged even when past experience has taught us otherwise. Failure is not always going to be failure if new elements are added, just as success doesn’t always work because something new has been added to change the outcome.
Early in our lives, we don’t know our limitations. Experience has a way of teaching us what we can’t do as well as what we can if we strive for understanding. If we are fortunate, when we are young, we have people cheering us on, though some have struggles from the beginning. The point is that we all have to determine whether to let life’s ups and downs control our future or whether we will reach for the understanding that will unlock the potential and purpose that we were created for.
Coming to Jesus in 1969 I understood that becoming a Christ follower was serious business and that’s why I resisted becoming a Christian for some time. You may ask how long I resisted and probably I would have to say all my life, though I didn’t realize it at the time. Sometime we resist the “Presentation” of Christianity and of Christ. We call this religion. This happens when we color the meaning of Jesus’ words and life to suit our motives or lifestyle. In truth, this representation is a counterfeit though the people in it don’t see it that way.
When I was around 25 years old I was coming home to my home town of Santa Cruz, California after spending about five years in a ministry called Youth With A Mission in which I traveled as a missionary throughout the US and Europe. I was coming home with no money, no job, no car and no church family. My parents were not Christians and did not understand why I would be so serious about my faith to the point that I would spend my self and my resources in serving God’s purpose. Because of this, they would only provide a place for me to live temporarily until I got a job and a vehicle. Approaching my grandfather for a loan seemed to be about my only option.
When we are young our road is pretty well-marked out for us by our parents, but as we get older we normally are given options rather than being told what to do. What talents and gifting do we have? Are we mechanical or intellectual and what life path will we choose? This is the normal progression to maturity. However, there are a lot of variables that can affect the outcome of our journey in life and our success or failure.
I have traveled in about 48 states of the US and over 40 countries of the world and one of the most frustrating parts of my various adventures I have taken is when I have a map that is either incomplete or down right wrong. Sometimes I think I wish we would go back to paper maps! Remember when you would go to a gas station and buy one? That was before cell phones in a galaxy far, far away. In Charlotte, NC where we now have lived for over two years, the maps are often wrong or incomplete even through I have a 2018 vehicle. There are so many new roads that the electronic maps can’t keep up. In fact, the highway that is a beltway around the city doesn’t show the shortest routes to many northern destinations because it shows the Hi-Way as being incomplete, which it’s not. What I have experienced is that the maps on your car are often 4-5 years behind your cell phone map.
