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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.
