Leading People: A Challenge and an Invitation

It's been said that leadership would be easy if it weren’t for the people we're leading. Such a true and revealing statement. I’d like to think that my first inclination is to love people. And maybe it is, until the pristine shimmer of unmoved waters is hit with the slightest pebble that causes ripples to form.

Loving people doesn’t happen naturally.

There’s never going to be a time when leadership is perfect and easy, because we’re all broken, and we're all unique. Though justified by grace we’re still filled with issues as we walk the road of sanctification. We also each have a unique history of how we were raised and a lifetime of different experiences that have shaped our worldviews and expectations.

Leading your team well demands that you do the second commandment–loving people–which leaves you no other option than to do the first commandment–loving God.

It’s almost as if God has set this whole thing up. Almost like He knew that giving us people to lead would force us into greater dependence upon Him thus deepening our friendship with Him. I’m not saying God causes or delights in these challenges, but He does allow them, and will use them if we’re willing.

God’s main goal for your life isn’t your comfort, but the fashioning and forming of your heart to love Him and others.

So many times, when everything in my life is going great, it’s easy for me to neglect spending the kind of quality time with God that I should. But He helps remind me of my need for Him as I see my inadequacy and inability to lead well in my own strength. This causes a desperation that is designed to move me towards Him.

"Every challenge you face as a leader is an invitation to deeper intimacy with God."

Whatever leadership challenges you find yourself facing today, perhaps God wants to use them to draw you closer to His heart.

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