28 May 2010
Because you are willing
A different kind of leadership
I love leadership.
I love the creative challenge of trying to work out with God what the future might be and how we get there.
I must say though, that there are lots of times when I want to give up, and even more times when I feel “driven”.
There was something I noticed in 1 Peter chapter 5 that surprised me as I thought about leadership:
1To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; 3not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.
It might be just me, but often I can get to a point where I no longer feel like I have a choice. That because I am the “bottom line”, my life gets taken from me.
What really struck me about this passage are the words “not because you must, but because you are willing”. God actually doesn’t want me to be in a place where I don’t have choice. He wants me to choose.
As I let myself hear those words, I have to ask myself again “Why am I here”? and remind myself that I am here because I believe deeply in the dream I have given my life to, not because anyone made me do anything.
It is amazing how that change of headspace can be the difference between experiencing life as an oppression or experiencing it as an adventure.