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What place does faith have in leadership?
As a Christian Leader, I think there is a base understanding that needs to drive everything that you do. In Romans 3:21-26, Paul communicates the key to the beginning of a relationship with God. He begins by reminding us that "...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,..." The key is in the next section, "...justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins."
We see here that in God's eyes, we are all lost, but only though his grace, due to the sacrifice of his Son, are we able to be redeemed. I also like how Paul calls out that God chooses to pass over former sins....
So what can we take from this as leaders?
1. We need to ground ourselves in faith
The first key to great leadership is being humble. If you read Romans 3:10-18, you will see what God thinks of us when we are not in relationship with him. So if we are not right with God and understand that the only reason we are in the position that we are is because of His grace, we are destined to be lost.
2. We can choose to emulate God
Paul reminds us that it is God's choice to overlook past sins, as long as we repent and ask for forgiveness. As a leader, how quick are you to forgive your followers when they do wrong? I don't think that this passage says that we should let people walk over us, but I do think that we should practice the same forgiveness as God.
3. Give your people reason to have faith in you
As I stated earlier, there is a divine faith that we must have in the one true God and His Son, Jesus. However, there is also an earthly faith that people have. As leaders, we need to gain the faith of our people. This can only be done by consistent behavior that earns trust, confidence and results. The best way to earn the faith of your people is to turn to the Lord for help, in every decision. Reading the Bible daily will begin to build your character and help you begin to base your thoughts around God's teaching.
4. Be more thoughtful about the motivation than the actions
In Romans 3:28 Paul writes, "For we hold that one is justified by faith, apart from works..." God isn't concerned about what we do as much as he is about why we do it. Don't get me wrong, God wants us to do good things, but the motivation in our heart should drive the good things that we do. As you look at the actions you take, ask yourself "why am I doing this?" Is it based out of selfish need, or is it motivated out of helping others? The second way to think about this is in judging the actions of your employees. What is their motivation, even if their actions didn't turn out right.
I use the scripture from my Men's Bible Study group to drive the content for my blogs. Some weeks the words apply themselves very easy to a leadership lesson, other times.....not so much. While the scripture that I used today is not a natural fit into leadership lessons, I think the theme fits well. Everything hinges on our faith in God and the understanding that our eternal salvation is a gift of grace. If we use that as our compass, especially as we deal with others, the decisions that you make should originate from a Godly place.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Wednesday, August 15, 2012
A Higher Court
The Summer Olympics is one of the most exciting two weeks of sports that take place every four years. Many of the sports have clear cut winners, who compete against each other in timed events, or in scoring competitions. Swimming, Track and Field, Soccer and Beach Volleyball all have outcomes based on measurable results.
However, there are other sports where the winner is determined based on the judgement of others.....Gymnastics, diving, and trampoline (yes, that is actually an Olympic event) are examples of some of these sports. I always find it so interesting that by the end of the games, everyone has become an expert on how to judge these events, especially gymnastics. With little or no knowledge of the sport, people remark about how the scoring was either too high, or too low for a given performance. These athletes are then "judged" as a champion or failure based on the opinion of others.....
What if you worked your entire life to be perfect at your job, and then one day, people who knew very little about your profession came to your place of work and judged you based upon their opinion of your performance on that day....My point is, that it is very easy for us to sit back and judge the performance and action of others, but are not nearly as comfortable when the roles are reversed and we feel like we are the ones being judged.
In Paul's letter to the Romans, he discusses the topic of people judging each other. He warns against judging others for actions they have taken, when you may very well carry out the same actions. He warns us that we need to be aware that when we are hypocrites, God judges us even more harshly,
Paul is very serious in his warning about how important it is to worry about your own actions and not be quick to point out the shortcomings of others.....especially if we are guilty of the same thing! Let's look at this example from a leadership perspective. The leader that tells his people to work hard, be honest, and give your best, has little or no credibility when he is caught leaving work early to go play golf. It is our job to set the example of what Godly behavior should be, not because we are trying to be better than others, but because that is the respect and thanks that God requests for being his children.
Much like the hypocritical boss loses credibility, so does the Christian who is quick to call out what is wrong with others, yet slow to monitor their own behavior. These people do more harm to the name of the Lord than the many who choose not to believe, because they send a false message that Christians are above others.
Paul, however, reminds us in Romans 2:8 "God will give to each person according to what he has done." I think this is where people lose sight of things.....God has a long memory. If you go through life busy calling out what everyone else is doing wrong, while not acknowledging your own faults, you are setting yourself up for a very harsh judgement day. Another caveat of human judgement is that we are not aware of ALL of the circumstances that a person is dealing with as we judge them. We are only capable of seeing them through our filter. Only God has the ability to understand the entire situation and then be able to deliver a fair verdict.
To turn back to the Olympics for an example....Jordyn Weiber was the world champion in ladies gymnastics. She was a favorite to win multiple gold medals at the London games this year. It was her year to shine. As she worked through her routines on the first night, time after time, her performances seemed to fall just short. The judges gave her lower scores than normal, and the commentators found "chinks in the armor". In the end she missed going to the all-around finals by the slightest of margins. She was devastated, but came back the next time to help her team win a gold medal. However, she only qualified for one event final, which she finished poorly on.....Some would say that she "under performed"....others might say that she "choked".....The questions is, when those same people found out that she had gone through the entire competition with a stress fracture in her leg, but never complained and still gave her all, would they feel the same way?
Take Paul's caution seriously.....Judgement is another form of pride in practice. It is a dangerous game to play....This doesn't mean that, as leaders, we shouldn't have high expectations of people, and hold them accountable for their actions. It does mean that we are equally accountable for our own. While it may be our job to set expectations and make corrections to behaviors, it is not our place to judge the motivation or the substance of the person....That is for God's determination
However, there are other sports where the winner is determined based on the judgement of others.....Gymnastics, diving, and trampoline (yes, that is actually an Olympic event) are examples of some of these sports. I always find it so interesting that by the end of the games, everyone has become an expert on how to judge these events, especially gymnastics. With little or no knowledge of the sport, people remark about how the scoring was either too high, or too low for a given performance. These athletes are then "judged" as a champion or failure based on the opinion of others.....
What if you worked your entire life to be perfect at your job, and then one day, people who knew very little about your profession came to your place of work and judged you based upon their opinion of your performance on that day....My point is, that it is very easy for us to sit back and judge the performance and action of others, but are not nearly as comfortable when the roles are reversed and we feel like we are the ones being judged.
In Paul's letter to the Romans, he discusses the topic of people judging each other. He warns against judging others for actions they have taken, when you may very well carry out the same actions. He warns us that we need to be aware that when we are hypocrites, God judges us even more harshly,
Paul is very serious in his warning about how important it is to worry about your own actions and not be quick to point out the shortcomings of others.....especially if we are guilty of the same thing! Let's look at this example from a leadership perspective. The leader that tells his people to work hard, be honest, and give your best, has little or no credibility when he is caught leaving work early to go play golf. It is our job to set the example of what Godly behavior should be, not because we are trying to be better than others, but because that is the respect and thanks that God requests for being his children.
Much like the hypocritical boss loses credibility, so does the Christian who is quick to call out what is wrong with others, yet slow to monitor their own behavior. These people do more harm to the name of the Lord than the many who choose not to believe, because they send a false message that Christians are above others.
Paul, however, reminds us in Romans 2:8 "God will give to each person according to what he has done." I think this is where people lose sight of things.....God has a long memory. If you go through life busy calling out what everyone else is doing wrong, while not acknowledging your own faults, you are setting yourself up for a very harsh judgement day. Another caveat of human judgement is that we are not aware of ALL of the circumstances that a person is dealing with as we judge them. We are only capable of seeing them through our filter. Only God has the ability to understand the entire situation and then be able to deliver a fair verdict.
To turn back to the Olympics for an example....Jordyn Weiber was the world champion in ladies gymnastics. She was a favorite to win multiple gold medals at the London games this year. It was her year to shine. As she worked through her routines on the first night, time after time, her performances seemed to fall just short. The judges gave her lower scores than normal, and the commentators found "chinks in the armor". In the end she missed going to the all-around finals by the slightest of margins. She was devastated, but came back the next time to help her team win a gold medal. However, she only qualified for one event final, which she finished poorly on.....Some would say that she "under performed"....others might say that she "choked".....The questions is, when those same people found out that she had gone through the entire competition with a stress fracture in her leg, but never complained and still gave her all, would they feel the same way?
Take Paul's caution seriously.....Judgement is another form of pride in practice. It is a dangerous game to play....This doesn't mean that, as leaders, we shouldn't have high expectations of people, and hold them accountable for their actions. It does mean that we are equally accountable for our own. While it may be our job to set expectations and make corrections to behaviors, it is not our place to judge the motivation or the substance of the person....That is for God's determination
Friday, August 3, 2012
Remember What Got You There....
Have you ever watched someone who evolved into a totally different person as they experienced success? What do you think happened?
Romans, Chapter 1 provides good thoughts on one explaination of how leaders can take a wrong path.
In verse 17, Paul starts off by saying that the "Righteous shall live by faith." So often when we are at the beginning of a new journey, we need to check in with God to help us. God is always willing to guide us, and he wants the very best for us. The issue occurs when the success starts to come and we begin to believe that we are the reason for the results. In verse 21, Paus says "For although they knew God, they did not honor him or give him thanks, but became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened."
This is a transition point. When leaders actively choose to ignore the help that God provided in terms of guidance, their future is put in jeopardy. In verse 27 Paul says "Claiming to be wise, they became fools." Once pride takes over, confidence extends to areas that may not be realistic. We set ourselves up for failure because we believe we know the best way to navigate the path. We set our sites on worshiping the prize or the title, or the money, and not what God put you in the position to do. For this reason Paul says that "God gave them up because they worshiped the creature rather than the creator." I think that means that the focus became the "stuff" and not the "substance" Usually this is the part of the story where the leader has their fall from grace.
So how do you insure that this doesn't happen to you?
1. Don't forget who put you in the position that you are in.
2. Ask yourself why you have been blessed with your success? What does he want you to do with it.....
3. Put people around you who will keep your pride in check and insure that you focus on your responsibility, not your reward.
These three steps should at least give you an integrity check to help limit your risk of falling out of favor with God as you experience the benefits of his blessings......It's not about you.
Romans, Chapter 1 provides good thoughts on one explaination of how leaders can take a wrong path.
In verse 17, Paul starts off by saying that the "Righteous shall live by faith." So often when we are at the beginning of a new journey, we need to check in with God to help us. God is always willing to guide us, and he wants the very best for us. The issue occurs when the success starts to come and we begin to believe that we are the reason for the results. In verse 21, Paus says "For although they knew God, they did not honor him or give him thanks, but became futile in their thinking and their foolish hearts were darkened."
This is a transition point. When leaders actively choose to ignore the help that God provided in terms of guidance, their future is put in jeopardy. In verse 27 Paul says "Claiming to be wise, they became fools." Once pride takes over, confidence extends to areas that may not be realistic. We set ourselves up for failure because we believe we know the best way to navigate the path. We set our sites on worshiping the prize or the title, or the money, and not what God put you in the position to do. For this reason Paul says that "God gave them up because they worshiped the creature rather than the creator." I think that means that the focus became the "stuff" and not the "substance" Usually this is the part of the story where the leader has their fall from grace.
So how do you insure that this doesn't happen to you?
1. Don't forget who put you in the position that you are in.
2. Ask yourself why you have been blessed with your success? What does he want you to do with it.....
3. Put people around you who will keep your pride in check and insure that you focus on your responsibility, not your reward.
These three steps should at least give you an integrity check to help limit your risk of falling out of favor with God as you experience the benefits of his blessings......It's not about you.
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