Dear Trekker,
Thoughts I share with you each month are like seeds freely sown, observed and reflected upon in my own life and others, gleaned regularly from Scripture and shared with you in mystery of development and outcome. With that understanding, I want to lead-off by offering a definition: “Spiritual leadership occurs when a person, through whom God reveals and reflects His nature, inspires and leads people back to God.”
Since the beginning of human history, man has “turned his own way” (the essence of sin) and pursued self-interest instead of the relationship God purposed when He created man special, “in His image created He them, male and female.” (Genesis 1:27). Sin destroyed the intended relationship between God and man, creating a void, a horrendous social and relational anomaly in which we all live, which Christ alone could correct as a “God-man”, clearly revealing Jesus Christ as the greatest leader who ever lived. (Acts 4:12)
So after reading recently in Ezra and Nehemiah in the Old Testament, plus a quick sojourn of lessons learned by prophets Ezekiel and Moses, I want to share a few thoughts on leadership, spiritual leadership specifically. Natural man is in “no man’s land”, lost in the forever relational maelstrom from which he can never escape, only flounder within. Jesus Christ bridged that gap in His life, death and resurrection and asks us to introduce and lead people, primarily by example, back to Him. The challenge of the leader in Christ is straightforward and always, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” (Paul’s words to the Corinthians, first book, Ch. 11:1) The effectiveness of a leader in Christ is the degree in which His people “grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ” alone. (II Cor. 5:16-21 sums up well our mission. Read before going on.)
The need for every spiritual leader in every hour of history is to “stand in the gap”, fulfilling God’s great quest for man whom He died to love. Ezekiel nails the concept, quoting God: “I looked for a man among them (the Israelites) who could build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land (the people), but I found none. (Ezekiel 22:30) Ezekiel sought to be such a man.
So did Ezra and Nehemiah… and Abraham, Moses, Aaron, Jeremiah and many others. Reading in Ezra and Nehemiah, I am reminded again that effective Christian leadership down through the ages is simply “showing up”, “saluting”, saying “here I am, send me”, and “doing one’s duty” as God calls us to be “the man (or woman) of the hour.” I read a little limerick recently which says it well, and is supposedly on a wall of my alma mater: “The living truth is what I long to see. I cannot live on what used to be. So close your Bible and show me how the Christ you talk about is living now.” As I have said repeatedly in my writing over the years, the only Christ most people will ever see is the Christ in you and me!
Convictions concerning leadership (years in the making) have flooded over me as I have been reading Ezra and Nehemiah. What leaders! Ezra, priest and scribe, went from Babylon to Jerusalem approximately 80 years after the Jews had begun the return to their homeland. As priest, he called the Jews back to their roots, since their departure from roots preceded and caused their captivity in Babylon. Ezra’s leadership is clearly seen in his response to widespread mixed (religious) marriage he found back in his homeland. The people, including priests, Levites, princes and rulers had intermingled with idolatrous neighbors, something God had repeatedly forbidden the Jews to do, and which had led to their captivity. Chapter 9 and 10 in Ezra reveal the harsh measures he instituted, but they were effective. Jews were once and for all cured, an ethnic awareness and faithfulness which has continued throughout the centuries. (Trekker… re-read this story! Why interfaith marriage is so “bad”, is for another time.)
Nehemiah returned as leader and governor a few years after Ezra. They worked in tandem for the benefit of their people, standing in the gap. Together they brought people back to a relationship of trust and dependence on God. Nehemiah’s attitude and actions in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, his public reading of the “Book of Law”, etc. all reveal his incredible leadership. The book of Nehemiah is a great mentoring scenario, revealing clearly how Nehemiah brought faith, conscience and reason into the leadership equation.
The too-often pitfall of a spiritual leader is that in the cauldron of life’s challenges, he (or she) tends to lose focus on God so that he inadequately reflects the Lord’s nature… and subsequently fails in his leadership. Moses experienced this more than once, reminding us that all great leaders struggle. (Read Numbers 11:1-15 before going on.) The travail of leadership is to be misunderstood by the people led. This had great effect on Moses, who succumbed to excessive introspection and a “woe is me” attitude. All leaders must learn if they are to stand in the gap, “it” is not about them. Followers often misunderstand their leader because their hearts are not right toward God. The Scriptures throughout are clear… we are often rejected because God is first rejected. Communication fails when hearts drift, and blame and complaint fall on leaders. It has always been this way.
Trekker, how do we react to criticism, misunderstanding, gossip, etc? We have three choices: 1) Throw it back on those we lead, 2) absorb it, and get ulcers or flame out, or 3) deliver it over to God (as Moses finally did) and work through it. The trauma of the spiritual leader is that in the midst of turmoil, he (or she) misunderstands God. “Why” is at once the greatest and yet worst word known to man. As leaders, sometimes we think everything should go right and the blessing of God will automatically follow. Not necessarily so! The bottom line of leadership is this: if we are to stand in the gap successfully, we must accept a burden that breaks the heart of God, neither wilting in the process nor losing sight of the Savior. Remember… in Christ, we are winners who can’t lose. Think positively about your leadership opportunities, trekker.
Your friend,
Jim Meredith
