The Dangers and Pitfalls of Leadership

God is good, I have recently started serving in leadership positions, something I have been wanting to do for a long LONG time.  But in the past few weeks I've been thinking (yes, yes I know; thinking: always a dangerous pass-time).  But seriously, the opening thought was "What are my motives in taking these leadership opportunities?"  From that one question came the talking points for this blog entry.

There are two pitfalls that a Christian leader (well any leader really, but I'm talking to Christians in specific) can fall into.

The first pitfall that Christian leaders can fall into is becoming a leader for the right reasons, but then letting that opportunity become all about the wrong reasons.  For instance, someone (we'll call him Joe) hears that their church is in need of youth leaders (yes, there are more leadership opportunities than just youth leaders, this is just the most obvious.  Joe feels like the Lord is leading him to volunteer as a youth leader, so he does. However, Joe finds that serving is becoming less about being a godly role model for the youth, and more about "hanging out with the cool people" or "feeling important".

If you find yourself in such a mind set, we need to stop and ask the Lord for his forgiveness, and then seek his will about how to continue.  Chances are if we have the wrong motives then we are failing at our task of being a godly leader and setting an example.

The second pitfall that is a hazard for Christian leaders is the mindset where we allow arrogance to start creeping in and we start to think more of ourselves than what is truthful or healthy.

This pitfall and the previous are especially dangerous because they often go unnoticed.  Oh, we might start to believe that we are not as humble as we should like, but the true severity of our arrogance does not cross our minds until we mess up big-time in public and are called out on it.  Even then, it is a very real danger that we just brush it aside with some excuse, when in reality they are probably right.

The Bible says that God hates arrogance (Proverbs 8:13) and as Christians we are called to be humble servants in fact Jesus said that if we wish to be great in God's eyes we should be servants to all.  Something else to keep in mind is that, as Christians we are called to love others as Christ has loved us, and love is not arrogant (1st Corinthians 13).

Lastly in attempting to humble yourself, do not fall for the lie that your work is unimportant and that there is no point to what you do.  If this thought pops into your head, remember the analogy of the church as a body (1st Corinthians 12).  Every position in the church is important, whether you will acknowledge it or not, God calls us all to serve in different ways; the fact that God has called you to serve in some way should be enough to persuade you that what you do is important.

Why are our live so rough?

One day two farmers were talking, one was a Christian, the other an agnostic.  Despite their differences, the two farmers were very good friends and often talked about subjects such as God, the meaning of life, morality, and other such tough subjects.  On this particular instance the agnostic had initiate the conversation and had asked the other farmer: "Friend, if your God is all that you say that he is, then why are you going through such a hard time with your farm?"  In response the Christian farmer looked at his friend and replied "I will answer you after you show me, in the Bible, where it says that Christians are supposed to have easy lives."  The agnostic wasn't about to let the Christian get off that easy though, so he asked "Doesn't it make sense though?  If God really existed and loved you, wouldn't he make life comfortable for you here?"  After thinking for a good long while, the Christian responded "When I go to ship my hogs off to market each Tuesday morning I have noticed something.  It is almost impossible to get my teenage son out of bed to come help as long as he keeps the blankets on the bed.  But if you yank the covers off of the bed and open the windows to allow the cold, early morning air in, he jumps out of bed like a rocket and races to get his warm clothes on; once he is up its easy to get him outside and working."

Our life is kind of like that story about the farmer and his boy.  As Christians, we need to remember that we have a job to do, and limited time to do it in. Remember that throughout history, the Church has been most effective during persecution.  Why is that?  Because when we get comfortable we tend to slack off on the work Christ has called us to.  Another thing is that God uses tough times to teach us many lessons, not the least of which is to be able to rely on him.  So the next time we feel tempted to ask God why life is so hard, maybe instead we should ask "Have I been lying down on the job, or is God trying to teach me something?"