Leadership Living –
What is leadership living? We know that one of the definitions of leadership is the ability to influence people. Are all of us willing to be leaders? Or do we want to be followers? The Bible calls us sheep. We will come back to this theme a little later.
Being a Leader is not easy…
So if you are having a problem with people you are not alone. As one President said running a country is a lot like running a cemetery; you’ve got a lot of people under you and nobody’s listening.
Let us list some of the leaders from the bible. It is interesting to study the leaders of the bible, it brings out such variety. It takes all types to make the world.
With the Scriptures we have examples of many fine leaders and many not so fine leaders.
Look at Noah. He was leader. He did not have many followers, only 7, but he was still a great leaders. We should realize that the greatness of a leader does not depend on the amount of followers.
Noah was a builder, a builder for God. He did what God told him and lead his family to do the same.
Think of Moses. He was great leader. Also an unwilling leader. Through Moses God gave the Hebrew people the law. Moses lead the people out of the Egypt, through the desert and to the borders of the promise land.
Joshua was another great leader of the Bible. Joshua lead the Hebrew people into the promises land. If you read about Joshua you will see that he was a faithful leader and taught that to the people. He called on the people to serve God.
Most are familiar with Josh. 24:15 “And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”
When I think of leaders I think of Nehemiah, another builder for God. If you want to learn about leadership, read the book of Nehemiah, a great book on leadership. Nehemiah was not only a leader who build but one who worked, he set goals, he showed concern, he showed he was ready to fight for what was right, Nehemiah also showed that a godly leader will succeed in the task God has given.
Ezra is another leader in sharp contrast to the style of Nehemiah. Nehemiah led by decisiveness and authority, backed by prayers. Ezra led by self examination and self sacrifice. Just take a look at the way in which Nehemiah and Ezra tackled the cancer of ungodly relationships which was threatening to dilute Judaism to the level of extinction. Ezra withdrew, fasted and prayed and cried out to the Lord and made the people realise their mistake and admit the mistake. Nehemiah on the other hand confronted the people who did this and went to extent of slapping some of them. What contrasting styles indeed.
The New Testament also reveals great leaders. Of course there is Paul. As a leader Paul delegated as we see in our passage for today. As a leader Paul was not afraid of confrontation for truths sake. As a leader Paul had great concern and love for those who were under his authority.
Of course the greatest leader was Jesus Christ, and He still is. The greatest way in which the Lord still leads today is by example. That is the greatest way a leader can lead, by example.
What do these Leaders have in common?
The Greats Don’t Need Hair Cuts
A young boy had just gotten his driving permit. He asked his father, who was a minister, if they could discuss the use of the car. His father took him to his study and said to him, “I’ll make a deal with you. You bring your grades up, study your Bible a little and get your hair cut and we’ll talk about it.” After about a month the boy came back and again asked his father if they could discuss use of the car. They again went to the father’s study where his father said, “Son, I’ve been real proud of you. You have brought your grades up, you’ve studied your Bible diligently, but you didn’t get your hair cut!”
The young man waited a moment and replied, “You know Dad, I’ve been thinking about that. You know, Samson had long hair, Moses had long hair, Noah had long hair, and even Jesus had long hair….” To which his father replied, “Yes, and they walked every where they went!”
On a more serious note.. what these leaders had in common is one thing … whenever they lead the people they followed God…. That is where we become the sheep…. These leaders followed God and lead the people.
-Mandana Kumar, Phd
Thanks, great article.