Lessons for leadership drawn specifically from Scripture

Without Compromise, pt. 2: Dealing with Your Circumstances

When I started a personal Bible study on the book of Ezra several years ago, I wasn’t expecting that I would turn my own study notes into a book about leadership, but that’s what happened (Leadership Ezra, available on Amazon).  When that was done, I started a study of Daniel, and never made it past the first chapter before organizing my personal notes into a series of valuable lessons to share with students.  As time has gone on, God seems to be prompting me to do more with it, so I have begun the process of turning my notes into short articles, that will then become the basis for chapters in a book (current working title: “Without Compromise: Leading with integrity in the face of pressure”).  

The underlying basis of the story is this:  In the time and world of Daniel, Israel and the capital city of Jerusalem were invaded and captured.  In that process, the most gifted and talented young men were given a “scholarship” [albeit, against their will] to attend the most elite private school in the known world, one designed to prepare leaders & experts (Daniel 1:3).  Upon graduation, Daniel and his friends were at the top of the class and were hired into executive leadership positions right out of school (Daniel 1:17-20).  But here’s an incredibly significant observation: In between . . . they refused to compromise their faith, values, and integrity.  

How did they do it?  One way was by seeing their circumstances in the right light.

Daniel was living in a time and in a place in which his nation was rejecting God and disobeying His commands.  God had promised judgment on Israel when they did that, so . . . that’s what happened. God allowed another nation to conquer Judah and take the Jews captive.  Even though Daniel (as we see later) was living righteously, he was not immune to the fallout from the events in his world (as the Bible says, “The rain falls on the just and the unjust alike.”).  One of those effects was the “kidnapping” of talented teenagers, who were to be trained (“brainwashed”?) into a new identity, and this included Daniel.  Little did he know at the time that God was actually orchestrating something.

So then, how do we see Daniel respond when his world was turned upside down? He could have blamed or rejected God, given up on his faith, followed the crowd so as not to be singled out or persecuted, and/or chosen to follow a path of disobedience and sin. Instead, he trusted God even when it didn’t seem fair, remained faithful to the truth, refused to compromise even if it set him apart, and continued to be obedient in the face of great pressure.

What can we take away from the example of his response? There are both good and bad circumstances that occur in your life, and they may or may not be your own fault.  They could be a result of your own sin (bad choices) or righteousness (good choices), a result of someone else’s sin or righteousness, or a result of original sin or God’s favor or His plan. Regardless, in every case, God is working out His purpose for good, and I am accountable for my actions and my response, not for God’s role in the process. For God’s part, He is still in control, has a purpose, and uses people and circumstances – both good and bad – to carry out His purpose (and shape you). I, on the other hand, am responsible to do my part (Prov. 16:9) and to remember that my circumstances – both good and bad – are often outside of my control, but never outside of God’s.  Therefore, I need to answer for how I respond.

The lesson we learn from Daniel in this is the Lesson of Circumstances:  God has an intentional purpose for your life within your circumstances, and you get to choose your response, your trust, and your obedience.

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Without Compromise, pt. 1: The Most Important Thing

When I started a personal Bible study on the book of Ezra several years ago, I wasn’t expecting that I would turn my own study notes into a book about leadership, but that’s what happened (Leadership Ezra, available on Amazon).  When that was done, I started a study of Daniel and never made it past the first chapter before organizing my personal notes into a series of valuable lessons to share with students.  As time has gone on, God seems to be prompting me to do more with it, so I have begun the process of turning my notes into short articles that will then become the basis for chapters in a book (current working title: “Without Compromise: Leading with integrity in the face of pressure”).  

The story’s underlying basis is this:  In the time and world of Daniel, Israel and the capital city of Jerusalem were invaded and captured.  In that process, the most gifted and talented young men were given a “scholarship” [albeit against their will] to attend the most elite private school in the known world, one designed to prepare leaders & experts (Daniel 1:3).  Upon graduation, Daniel and his friends were at the top of the class and were hired into executive leadership positions right out of school (Daniel 1:17-20).  But here’s an incredibly significant observation: In between . . . they refused to compromise their faith, values, and integrity.  

How did they do it? 

The answers are revealed in the first chapter of the book, but the first (and most important) is reflected in what can be inferred from verse 8, which says, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank; therefore he requested of the chief of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” You see, in this newly placed environment, Daniel (and his three friends) were given the best food on the menu.  It was not for the purpose of ‘seducing” them to the side of evil, or for perverting who they were.  However, they knew what they believed (based on Jewish Law and the Scriptures), so they knew that eating that food wouldn’t be consistent with what they believed.  But they also knew they were far away from home under a lot of pressure. So, Daniel had to make a decision based on his personal worldview and principles, and his resulting response was to stand firm.

His response in verse 8 reveals three things:

  1. He knew what he believed.  He had a standard of morality, a set of values that was the basis of his belief, and he owned that standard as his own. 
  2. He knew why it mattered.  Therefore, he had turned that set of values into guiding principles reflected with integrity in his character and identity.
  3. He knew how he should respond. His standard of morality was translated into his decisions and his actions.

The takeaway for us is this:  It begins with your worldview, your core beliefs.  That’s your foundation.  Then, your beliefs are translated into principles, the guidelines you establish for yourself that show what matters to you.  That’s your framework.  Finally, your principles dictate the decisions you make and the actions you take (That’s your finish).  Ultimately, what you believe and how you behave are tied to each other.   Therefore, you need to know what you believe and why it matters so that it forms the framework of how you will live; just as importantly, your actions and decisions must match your beliefs. When you have done that, you are prepared to face any pressures to conform . . . without compromise.

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Podcast Episode 16 – What Is the Truth About Christmas?

This week’s episode builds on Monday’s article of the same name, “The Truth About Christmas.” Here is the transcript of the podcast:

Have you wondered what Christmas is really about? On today’s episode, that’s the question we are going to explore. In this holiday season of activity and celebration, it’s easy for the real meaning behind Christmas to become lost or buried beneath it all. That makes it important to intentionally step back every Christmas and remind ourselves of what Christmas is all about.

I have so many wonderful childhood memories and traditions surrounding Christmas. Some of them are specific individual memories like the year my parents got us a family gift of an air hockey table. We had so much fun playing with that game as a family. Others are traditions that we repeated every year, like opening one present on Christmas Eve, and then on Christmas morning, opening stockings, followed by eating a big breakfast that my dad cooked, and then opening presents, and finally a Christmas dinner later that afternoon with extended family. My wife, meanwhile, grew up with different traditions, which included a big Christmas Eve dinner (often with extended family), and in addition to Christmas Day, celebrated Three Kings on January 6, a Puerto Rican celebration of the three wise men following the star to find baby Jesus.

When we got married and had kids, we blended some of those traditions together, and created new ones. Over the years, we would typically have a big dinner on Christmas Eve, and open one present before going to bed.  The next morning, we would open stockings and have a big breakfast of homemade Belgian waffles (recipe courtesy of my sister-in-law Lynnette) with strawberries and ice cream, along with bacon and eggs. I also always have half of a grapefruit because my dad always had grapefruit on Christmas morning, and it reminds me of him. Then we finally would open the presents.  Two weeks later, we celebrate Three Kings with our children.

But as meaningful as those things are, they miss the true, underlying meaning behind why we even celebrate Christmas in the first place, which is why we also always read the Christmas story during this season, usually on Christmas Eve before opening that first present.

What’s the Christmas Story? It’s found in Luke 1 and Matthew 1 and 2. It’s the story of when God, the Creator of the universe, sent His one and only Son to be born as a living human being, to live and walk this earth for about 33 years as both fully God and fully man. In doing that, He was able to live as a person like you and me, but live sinlessly in order to be the sacrifice for our sins when He paid the price on the cross with His death, burial, and subsequent resurrection. And His life on earth began as a baby born in a manger in Bethlehem. That’s what we are really celebrating at Christmas. 

What that means for you is that the real story behind Christmas points to the means of salvation through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Baby Jesus in the manger is the beginning of the whole story that ends at Easter, and it is of eternal significance to you.

Therefore, here’s what you need to take away. Jesus came as an innocent baby in order to become the perfect sacrifice for you and for me. Behind all the joys of family, gift-giving, and celebration that happen all throughout this season, this is the most important thing that we need to remember.

The bottom line is that we are sinners and, therefore, will be eternally separated from God, who is perfect. But Jesus paid the price so that we could be reconciled to God through Jesus’ sacrifice. My friend, if you have never placed your faith in Jesus Christ as your Savior, can I encourage you to take that step? Because that’s the real meaning and purpose of Christmas.

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First Get the Whole Story

Early in my experience as an educator, I heard my administrator say to parents (tongue-in-cheek), “If you don’t believe half of what your student says happened in the classroom, we won’t believe half of what they tell us happened at home.” Like many humorous comments, this contains a morsel of truth. People have a tendency to represent facts in such a way as to paint themselves in the best possible light, and children are no different. Often over the years, I have fielded phone calls from parents who were contacting me because of what their child said happened in class (things like, “my child told me that the teacher said this in class!”). I quickly learned to redirect their concern to the teacher, so that the parent could hear the whole story. Nearly every time, the parent has come back to me and said, “Now that I have the whole story, it makes a lot more sense.” (And most of the time, the story the child told at home was an effort to cover up or misdirect from wrong choices of behavior made by the student in the classroom.)

There are two particular passages in Scripture that have greatly helped me to understand this idea. One is Proverbs 18:13, which says, “He who answers a matter before he hears the facts—it is folly and shame to him” (Amplified Bible). The Message says it even more plainly: “Answering before listening is both stupid and rude.” This verse was first shared with me by a professor when I was completing a marriage and family counseling internship, as an exhortation to probe and question thoroughly before drawing conclusions in the counseling setting. For quite a while, I literally kept the verse written on a notecard, taped on top of my desk, as a reminder. I have since learned that this verse applies to many circumstances, not just to a counseling session. When you deal with people (and most of us do), you will have the experience of people telling you the story from their own perspective, which will likely mean that it may or may not be true (as I shared in a previous post, “Either It’s True or It’s Not”). It is foolish and stupid to react or respond without first getting the whole story

The second verse is James 1:19, which says, “So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” As many grandmothers have shared with their grandchildren, “There’s a reason why God gave us two ears and one mouth; we should listen twice as much as we speak!” This verse has been a constant reminder to me to be careful to listen first, although, in the process of my growth as a leader, it was a lesson that sometimes came the hard way.

For example, in one particular organization in which I worked, I made a spectacular blunder that loudly and clearly drove this lesson home to me. I was leading a small group of event planners in planning for one specific event, and everyone in the group (except me) had been involved in that organization for several years. As the leader, I felt that I should take charge of presenting good ideas, so I began the first meeting by telling the rest of the group all of my ideas. My enthusiasm (combined with the fact that I had not yet established trust or relationship) resulted in the rest of the group shutting down while giving verbal support to my ideas. However, over the next few days, I began to hear from others that the entire committee was frustrated with me, and the event was now in jeopardy. I had to go back to the committee and apologize for speaking without listening, and then I had to make it safe for them to talk. When I did that, I learned so much about the history and tradition associated with that event and could see that I had been on the verge of causing damage to the culture. I needed to take the time to listen, understand history, and get the whole story.

The added bonus is that when you take time to learn the whole story, you are much more likely to be able to discern if it is true or if it is not.  In Deuteronomy 18:21-22, Moses provided some direction to the people of Israel to help them understand how to discern this, when he said, “And if you say in your heart, ‘How may we know the word that the Lord has not spoken?’— when a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word that the Lord has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You need not be afraid of him.” He made the point that if you take the time to observe and get the whole story, beginning to end, you can tell if it is true or not.

It is easy for a leader to assume that leadership means taking charge and giving direction. However, I believe that these principles from Scripture give us a very different picture: leadership should be characterized by listening. Ask questions. Make it safe for people to share. Validate. And make sure you get the whole story before you react.

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Delegate Like Moses

I am not a micro-manager, nor do I try to do everything.  I have learned (sometimes in humiliating fashion) that there are many who have far more knowledge and much greater ability than I do.  And so I have also learned the value of asking questions and letting other people do what they do well.  At times, though, that has not prevented me from trying to control, manage, or do everything, usually because of the mistaken assumption that only I can do what needs to be done in the way it needs to be done.  The result, typically, is that I become exhausted or overwhelmed, others are deprived of the opportunity to grow and excel, and there are things that get missed, all because I did not delegate.

Exodus 18:13-27 provides a fantastic example of the lesson of delegation.  What’s described in this passage is the story of how Moses, the leader of Israel’s exodus from Egypt, was hard at work doing what leaders often do:  managing conflict.  His father-in-law came to visit and observed Moses’ leadership activity, and this is what he saw: 1) Moses was the primary decision-maker, and 2) it was consuming him (v. 13).  In fact, it is worth noting that he was so committed to the task of ministry that he was unable to tend to his family (verse 2 says that Moses had sent his wife and children to stay with her parents during this time).  When his father-in-law observed this, he decided to step in, paint a picture of what was happening, and provide some counsel to teach Moses the value of delegating.

A verse-by-verse analysis of that passage in Exodus provides a wealth of information that helps us understand this principle of delegation.  First, we see the problem with Moses’ failure to delegate (vv. 14-16), and the resulting impact (vv. 17-18). Moses’ method of leadership revealed:

  1. Micro-management – he was trying to do it all, by himself;
  2. Over-commitment – it was consuming his entire day, to the neglect of other needs;
  3. Self-importance – he believed he was the only one who could do it; and
  4. Spiritual justification – he justified his behavior as an important task for God.

The effect of this method included:

  1. Collateral damage – it impacted the people around him who were trying to help;
  2. Burnout – he was literally wearing himself (and others) out;
  3. Over-burdened – he was carrying too much weight and responsibility, which would make him ineffective; and
  4. Isolation – he was trying to do all this by himself, which left him alone.

Then we see the proposed solution (vv. 19-22) and the expected benefit (vv. 22-23) of changing his method.  A change in leadership style, specifically by learning to delegate, would involve six components:

  1. Advocating – establishing himself as the representative of the people;
  2. Communicating – expressing expectations and instructions;
  3. Selecting – choosing additional leadership, people who were capable, had integrity, and feared God;
  4. Delegating – assigning tasks and responsibility;
  5. Empowering – providing the authority to serve and lead in the assigned roles; and
  6. Regulating – establishing the hierarchy, division of responsibilities, and process of managing and supervising.

The result of this type of delegation would make the work of the ministry much easier.  Because the load would be shared, it would produce these benefits for both Moses and the people:

  1. It would be God’s work, not Moses’ work;
  2. As a result, the direction would be more clear;
  3. The burden would be bearable; and
  4. The customers would be satisfied.

Moses did listen to his father-in-law (demonstrating a teachable spirit) and incorporated these suggestions into his leadership practice.  This passage in Exodus concludes with a description of how he did this, by selecting competent leaders and giving them their responsibilities. They fulfilled their responsibilities well, while Moses continued to manage the most difficult issues and conflicts.  This is a powerful lesson and example for us as leaders.  All too often, under the guise of “serving God,” we do too much and do it by ourselves, believing that this behavior is a mark of spirituality and a servant’s heart.  In reality, it makes us ineffective for God, and most of the time, it damages relationships (particularly those closest to us – our families).  Learning to delegate is a valuable principle and practice of leadership, demonstrated by Moses.  Let’s follow that example.

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The Importance of Story

“Life, you’ll notice, is a story ” (Eldredge, 2004).  This brief statement by #JohnEldredge, at the beginning of his short book Epic, seems to have captured in six words the realization for me that my life is a story.  This was not always my perspective or viewpoint.  In fact, when I first entered my journey into a doctoral leadership program, I believed I was quite strongly a “concrete sequential” thinker with a quantitative view of data and life.  Somewhere along the way in that process, a series of circumstances, events, and reflective moments drew me to connect with the concept of “story,” and led me to much more of a qualitative understanding of life.  My personal growth had changed me to the point that I would now describe my perspective much like Eldredge did when he followed that six-word statement by saying, “Life doesn’t come to us like a math problem.  It comes to us the way that a story does, scene by scene.  You wake up.  What will happen next?  You don’t get to know – you have to enter in, take the journey as it comes.  The sun might be shining. There might be a tornado outside.  Your friends might call and invite you to go sailing.  You might lose your job.  Life unfolds like a drama.  Doesn’t it?  Each day has a beginning and an end.  There are all sorts of characters, all sorts of settings.  A year goes by like a chapter from a novel.  Sometimes it seems like a tragedy.  Sometimes like a comedy.  Most of it feels like a soap opera.  Whatever happens, it’s a story through and through.”

A natural outgrowth of recognizing the emergence of my own personal story was the understanding that “everyone has a story,” and so, in my development as a leader, I transitioned from recognizing the importance of my story to recognizing the importance of story in others, and in leadership in general.  I see this now in the simple way that I will often ask questions of people I meet to draw out their stories, and look for connections between their stories and mine in order to build relationship in a way that will benefit and enhance the effectiveness of my leadership. This importance of understanding each person’s story is, for me, reflected in the research methodology of narrative inquiry.   I have learned from Clandinin and Connelly, in the book Narrative Inquiry (2000), that story, or narrative inquiry, is a very important component of research because it provides the context and history of a circumstance and an environment, which provides meaning to them.  Merriam (1998) describes it as “the meaning people have constructed, that is, how they make sense of their world and the experiences they have in the world” (p. 6).

Over time, I have come to see leadership as a process that occurs within a context.  It seems that many approaches to leadership focus on the attributes of the leader or the relationship between the leader and the followers, but I believe that it is also very necessary to take into account the context of that process.  This includes knowledge of the context/environment in which the leader and followers currently exist (present); knowledge of the organizational history (past); and organizational vision (future).  With this knowledge, the leader engages in the process that is a continuing cycle of analyzing past, present, and future in order to move people and organizations toward a desired growth, change, or direction.  In other words, the leader understands that the story of the organization and the stories of its people are necessary to an understanding of how to shape the organization, which means that “story” is critical for a leader to be effective as a change agent.  Therefore, in order for me to effectively make change within an organization, I must first understand its history, and to understand its history, I must hear stories.  I need to ask questions about the way things are done and why they are done in that way, build relationships with those around me, allowing me to best empower and encourage them.  I need to share the example of my own story, and listen to their stories.

The additional, essential thing that I need to realize as a Christian leader is that my story is also part of God’s Grand Story (to use the phrasing from the organization, Walk Thru the Bible).  God’s redemption story, which centers around Jesus Christ, has been in play since the beginning of His creation, and He has been intentionally weaving people, events, and circumstances into His perfect plan to carry out His perfect purpose.  I have a part in that story, as do you, because God loves us dearly and has a part for us in a chapter of His great story. My story has a role and a purpose in God’s story, and so does yours!

So then, a “plot” in my story, so to speak, is that I have learned the importance of story for leadership.  I have learned that knowing my own story is vital to understanding how I lead and why I lead the way I do.  I have learned the importance of knowing the story of the organization that I lead, which leads me to ask questions and listen before acting, in order to better understand and manage that organization.  I have learned the value of using stories as a tool to effectively teach, mentor, motivate, and bring about change.  I have learned that everyone has a story, and each person’s story, in turn, impacts how that person constructs meaning from life, and therefore – in order for me to influence and develop my followers – I need to understand each person’s story.  And most importantly, I have learned that, as a leader, a teacher/mentor, and a change agent: story matters!

Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Eldredge, J. (2004). Epic:  The Story God is Telling. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, Inc.

Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education (2nd ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

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Words to Go By

As an educator and school administrator, I have participated in many school-year-ending activities, one of those being graduations. One of the interesting things about graduations is that – like many endings – it is also a beginning, which is why they are also called commencements (the dictionary definition of “commencement” is “a beginning or start”). During these times of celebration, there are often speeches and recognitions given that serve to remind the audience of where these students have come from and to challenge the students in their future direction. These speeches could be considered as words that motivate, inspire, and direct as young people go out into the world – or, words to (literally) go by.

Many years ago, when I was asked to deliver a commencement address at a graduation ceremony, it was this idea that prompted me to think of examples in Scripture that might qualify as commencement speeches. I started looking for stories that showed someone giving or receiving some kind of “send-off,” a speech or challenge that provided motivation and direction to that individual as he prepared to begin a journey of life or ministry. There were three that readily came to my mind. All three describe events in which God spoke to a person, speaking words that give us an important lesson, as that person was being sent out by God. It seems that God was giving words to go by.

The first example is that of Adam, who, as God’s first created human, could be said to be the father of mankind. He, along with Eve, had brought sin into the world, and now, as part of the consequence of their choices, they were being sent out of the garden. However, God still had a plan unfolding and wanted to bless them, so before sending them out, He issued a challenge (or perhaps a directive) in Genesis 1:28 when He said, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” God provided Adam and Eve with a calling to care for His creation, and to be a manager and leader over the earth. As faithful followers of Jesus, these words to go by could be simply stated for us as a call to do what God calls us to do, and do it well.

The second example is that of Abram (his name had not yet been changed to Abraham), who could be said to be the father of Israel. God knew the role that Abraham was going to play in the founding of His nation, so He spoke to Abraham before sending him out on his mission. Genesis 12:1 tells us that God directed Abraham when He told him, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.” God provided Abraham with a calling to embark on a mission as one chosen by God to represent Him, even without knowing the outcome or ultimate destination (he only knew that God would show him at the right time). Again, as faithful followers of Jesus, these words to go by could be simply stated for us as a call to go where God sends us to go, and be His ambassador.

The third example is that of Jesus, who could be said to be the father of Christianity. At this time, Jesus had not yet begun His ministry, and until this point, people only knew – by way of John the Baptist – that the Messiah was coming. Jesus approached John the Baptist while he was baptizing people, and John immediately recognized the Savior. Jesus was then baptized by John, officially initiating His ministry, and at that point, God spoke from heaven and said, in Mark 1:11, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” God provided Jesus with words of encouragement to begin His ministry, knowing the rejection and pain He would experience. Once more, as faithful followers of Jesus, these words to go by could be simply stated for us as a call to be who God made us to be, and live to please Him.

Putting these three charges together, I can say (and I did say this in that commencement speech), that regardless of where you are going in your future, where you are serving, or in what capacity you are leading, these are three valuable challenges that we can carry with us into our ministries for the rest of our lives. As you commence from this moment in time – as you go from here – remember these words to go by:

  • Do what God calls you to do, and do it well
  • Go where God sends you to go, and be His ambassador
  • Be who God made you to be, and live to please Him
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If you’re good you don’t have to tell people, they’ll tell you

One of my father’s many great attributes was the character trait of #humility. As a teenager and a young man, I was often in awe at his capability and competence in so many areas, and yet he was never arrogant or prideful, and would not boast about his own accomplishments or abilities. Seemingly in spite of his extroverted nature and his constant interaction with people, he never seemed to be drawing attention to his own successes, but rather, poured into others. Like many young people, I suppose, I wished that everyone else could see how great my father was, yet he never seemed to point out those things in himself.

I finally began to better understand this about him when I was a senior in high school and was receiving a particular accolade. There was a brief mention of this accomplishment in the local newspaper, and the next time one of my aunts came to visit, she mentioned the article and said to me, in front of my dad, that she had had no idea of my level of accomplishment before. I remember my dad saying to me, “Jeff, if you’re good, you don’t have to tell people, they’ll tell you.” At first, on the surface, that seemed like a simple statement, but now I realize that my dad was trying to teach me two very important things:

  • Humility is one of the most valuable character traits a person can have. No one likes pompous arrogance. It is unattractive to brag about yourself and makes you look needy, selfish, and insecure. In fact, #JimCollins points out in his best-selling book Good to Great that humility is one of the two primary attributes of a Level 5 Leader. So my dad taught me to see my skills and abilities as gifts from God to be used for the benefit of others, not for my own recognition.
  • Your actions speak louder than your words. One of his other many sayings (one I’ve often referenced) was, “Your walk talks and your talk talks, but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.” He knew – and he taught me – that people would be far more affected by my actions than my words, and that it would be my actions that would make my words believable. So he taught me to let my actions speak for me.

#TomNelson, in his book Work Matters, points out that “we are witnesses by our words, but we also witness by our work. The excellence of our work often gives us the credibility to speak of the excellence of our Lord Jesus and to share the good news of the gospel with our coworkers.” (p. 96) In saying this, he reminds us of this same truth, that people will judge us, and by extension will judge our God, by the quality and competence of the work we do.   In turn, people will draw conclusions about us based on what they see. And that’s why Dr. #HenryCloud, in Necessary Endings, states that “the best predictor of the future is the past.” (p. 93) He points out that what we have seen people do and how we have seen them act in the past gives us the best picture of what they are likely to be like in the future.

The book of Proverbs echos this sentiment in Proverbs 27:2, which says, “Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger and not your own lips,” and in Proverbs 22:29, which says, “Do you see a man who excels in his work?  He will stand before kings, he will not stand before unknown men.”  The New Testament, in Philippians, talks about the fact that Jesus humbled himself (for the purpose of providing our salvation), but that God exalted Him.  In a similar manner, in our service and obedience to God, we ought to be humbling ourselves and glorifying Him, then letting others judge us by what we do and how we live, and letting God do the lifting up in the way that best completes His purpose.  Proverbs 3:4 reminds us that a life lived this way brings “favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man.”

For good or for ill, people will draw conclusions about us based on what they observe. Therefore, as leaders, workers, followers, husbands and wives, students and teachers, or in whatever role we find ourselves, we ought to do our best and we ought to do it well. But we shouldn’t need to point it out; rather, we need to model humility along the way.  Your work and your actions should be such that people can see what you do, and see for themselves that you do it well, without you needing to arrogantly inflate yourself (and as a follower of Jesus, they should see a reflection of Him in your life at the same time). When that happens, they will be much more likely to appreciate your gifts and accomplishments than to resent them. So I will say the same thing to you that my dad said to me: If you’re good, you don’t have to tell people, they’ll tell you.

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Before You Can Do It, You Have to Know It

This is a seemingly obvious and simple statement, but upon reflection, one with significant meaning.  Simply put, before you can teach and lead others, you have to live it, but in order to live it, you have to know it. I experienced this (or, better put, failed at this) in my first experience as the top leader in an organization. To be honest, as I walked in the door, I was questioning my own preparedness, unsure of whether I knew enough to be able to lead well. But I had been given the opportunity, so I quelled my fears and jumped.

I arrived at a place with longstanding, competent employees, and my relative youth probably didn’t help. In my enthusiasm, I started to run without first taking the time to learn. I began making changes (some of them drastic) and implementing new policies and procedures but failed to take the time to study the history, culture, and people involved. As a result, my actions stemmed from ignorance rather than knowledge, resulting in conflict and disruption. It wasn’t until I took the time to learn that my actions of leadership could represent the right knowledge and therefore win followers and become effective.

But for Christian leaders, this truth goes much deeper: to be effective in your actions of leadership, you must first and foremost have a personal and in-depth knowledge of God and His Word. Your knowledge of His truth is more important than anything else in your preparation. Ezra, as a leader, provides a great example of this. In the passage that describes his preparation for leadership – and more pointedly, his preparation for a specific task – Ezra 7:10 states, “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.” Clearly, he had prepared himself for what he was about to undertake, but notice the order of the steps because the order is important! The first step in the process was “to seek the law of the Lord,” which led him to living out what he knew and, in turn, enabled him to teach and to lead. People followed him because his life gave him the credibility to lead, but first having the knowledge gave him the capability to lead.

What does it mean, then, that he had sought the law of the Lord? It means that he had spent time with God. He had studied the Scriptures intensely and diligently, learning who God is and what He says. And that took time and intentional practice. At the core, this is a basic and fundamental part of the Christian walk, and so it shows up nearly everywhere that someone talks about steps of growth. Gordon MacDonald, in Ordering Your Private World, discusses the importance of first having the private world of the inner man in order and says that this must come from developing intimacy with God through regular time with Him and in His Word. Tim Challies, in The Discipline of Spiritual Discernment, explains that the ability to discern is directly related to knowledge of God and of His Word. J. P. Moreland, in Love Your God with All Your Mind, communicates that faith is also an act of reason, based on truth – specifically the truth of Scripture – and therefore, Scripture must be studied for faith to grow. Kevin DeYoung, in Taking God at His Word, explores the doctrine of Scripture and, in the process, argues for the importance and necessity of reading and studying the Bible. And the list could go on and on. The clear understanding is that every Christian (not just leaders) needs to regularly spend time with God, studying Scripture and building that personal relationship.

Scripture itself supports this truth, as is seen in the examples of men and women of God (like Ezra), but as is also explicitly stated. Psalm 1 describes the person who will be blessed because of his moral choices and states in verse 2 that this is someone “whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night.” In the book of Joshua, chapter 1, verse 8, as Joshua is preparing to lead the people of Israel into the Promised Land, God challenges and encourages him with this statement: “Keep this Book of the Law always on your lips; meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful.” The bottom line is our thought processes, choices, and outcomes are directly impacted by our time spent in the Word of God.

As a crucial byproduct of studying Scripture, Ezra developed an intimate, personal relationship with God. Because of that personal and deep relationship, he didn’t simply learn to know who God was and is; he also came to understand God’s nature and heart. He had developed a relationship that enabled him to trust in God even in uncertainty and difficulty. It was from this relationship that he was, therefore, able to move and act with confidence in God’s sovereign plan and that he was able to see God’s hand and His purpose in the events that occurred.

This is a critical lesson for you and me. Leaders must be learners, but Christian leaders must also be learners of God’s Word. Therefore, in our leadership development, we absolutely must study Scripture, growing in intimacy with God. We need regular time with God, in prayer and in His Word. This must be central and foundational to what we do, to how we live, and to our call or purpose from Him. Doing this first is what makes us knowledgeable and gives us the capability to lead, because we will learn to see people and circumstances from God’s perspective, shaping how we think and act. It is from this growth of knowledge and relationship with God that we are able to “walk the talk,” modeling and practicing what we know and living authentic, genuine lives that inspire trust and result in effective leadership.

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Be an Example to the Flock

Early in my marriage, my wife and my mother were having a conversation about me (always a scary thought), when my wife commented about how annoying it was that I would wiggle my feet while I went to sleep, which of course made it difficult for her to fall asleep. My mother replied, “His dad does the same thing!” What was most interesting to me about this was that I was not even aware (consciously, at least) that this was one of my dad’s habits.

Years later, when we lived in another state, my parents came to visit, and while there, my dad came to see me at work. It didn’t take long for my extroverted father to disappear in search of other conversations, and after a while, one of my coworkers stepped into my office and asked if my father happened to be visiting. When I asked what made him say that – knowing that he had not met my father – he said, “Because I just saw someone who walks exactly like you . . . and like your son.” These two events illustrated for me the realization of how much I had followed my father’s example (whether I was aware of it or not), and how much my son, in turn, was following mine.

This is true for all of us – we are examples, whether we consciously realize it or not. People watch us, especially people that are close to us or are following us. And when they watch us, they learn from our example and emulate what we do, in some form or another. That’s why it doesn’t actually work for us to tell our children to “do as I say and not as I do,” because the truth is, they are going to do what we do regardless of what we say.

Knowing the power of our example, the Apostle Peter gives it some attention in the book of I Peter. In fact, he specifically talks about our example in the context of leadership, but before we get there, let’s get a broader view of the whole book. In the first four chapters, Peter seems to spend a lot of time talking about the importance of serving others in humility. Most of this instruction is applied to specific relationships and circumstances (such as the relationship between citizen and government, husband and wife, employer and employee, Christian brothers and sisters, and so on), but is also connected back in some way to our call to glorify God and reflect Christ in everything we do. He also clearly says that having this kind of conduct and character will not always be received well, and in fact, may bring persecution and suffering, but to do it anyway . . . because our motive is always outside of ourselves: again, so that God can be glorified and Christ can be modeled.

In this context of serving, humility, and representing Jesus, Peter says in chapter 5, verses 1-3:

“1To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder and a witness of Christ’s sufferings who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, watching over them—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve; 3 not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”

Peter says that those who are leaders have a responsibility to watch over and care for the people they lead. When I read how he describes that, it sounds to me like it is an obligation that should not be done out of obligation! He says we are to do this not because we have to, but because we want to; not for what we can get out of it, but for what we can give; and not to climb the ladder or exert power, but to serve as an example of what we are trying to grow. He says that we need to lead with a positive, selfless, and giving attitude while living an authentic example in front of them.

You see, as a leader you ought to be caring for the people you lead, but you shouldn’t do it for what you can get out of it, rather, you should do it because it is the right thing to do. In doing so, you provide an example that will shape and influence them far more than you realize, because they are watching you and they will imitate you. In the end, your recognition and reward are beyond the material and temporal gains, but will instead be the lifetime reward of developing people and the eternal reward of glorifying God. Therefore, as a leader: be an example to the flock.

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