EFFECTIVE LEADERS

“Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.”  (Ecclesiastes 4:9–10)

A story is told about a boy who valiantly, but unsuccessfully, attempted to move a heavy log to clear a pathway to his favorite hideout. His dad stood quietly nearby, watching his son straining against the load. Finally he said, "Son, why aren't you using all of your strength?"

Confused and a little angry, the boy responded, "Dad, I'm using every last little bit of strength I have!"

"No, son, you're not," his dad quietly responded. "You haven't asked me to help."

Effective leaders use all of their strength by recognizing, developing and utilizing the people around them. They know how to develop healthy alliances both with those on their own team and those on other teams. 

-- Bible Gateway 

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INVERTED CHRISTIANITY

Two thousand years ago Jesus extended an unbelievable invitation: "Follow Me." And the invitation is still on the table. But let me drill down on this a little bit. I think there are lots of people who think they have accepted the invitation. They think they are following Jesus. But the reality is that they have invited Jesus to follow them. And there is a world of difference!

For the first nineteen years of my life, if I'm being totally honest, I think it was more about Jesus following me. I didn't want to go anywhere without Him. But it wasn't about me serving His purposes. It was about Him serving my purposes. I think many Christians have an inverted relationship with Christ. Call it spiritual selfishness. Our relationship with Him is all about us. And then we wonder why we're unfulfilled and bored with our faith.

Are you following Jesus? Or is Jesus following you? 

-- Mark Batterson, from his blog Evotional.com  

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FOLLOW THE LEADER

“Then Jesus said to the crowd, ‘If any of you wants to be My follower, you must turn from your selfish ways, take up your cross daily, and follow Me.’”  (Luke 9:23 NLT)

The operative word is follow. When Jesus said, “Follow Me,” He defined faith. Faith goes deeper than just believing that Jesus is the Christ; the proof of faith is following Him…

If Jesus calls us to follow Him, He must be our leader. So we all should be in some distress when we realize that Jesus has largely disappeared as leader. Yes, we rightly acknowledge Him as Savior of the world, the Lamb that was slain, our resurrected Lord, and our soon-coming King, yet we don’t treat Christ as our leader. We seem to have forgotten His way of teaching, training, and doing works of power. With this oversight, we’ve sterilized His personality, taking all the spice, humor, and straightforwardness from Him. Even more fundamental to following Christ is submitting to His leadership.  

-- Bill Hull in “The Complete Book of Discipleship: On Being and Making Followers of Christ”

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