Lead With Love

God wants to make you a leader and teach you how to live a life of impact.

“These were the divisions of the descendants of Aaron: The sons of Aaron were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. But Nadab and Abihu died before their father did, and they had no sons; so Eleazar and Ithamar served as the priests. With the help of Zadok…David separated them into divisions for their appointed order of ministering. A larger number of leaders were found among Eleazar’s descendants…The families of the oldest brother were treated the same as those of the youngest.”1 Chronicles 24:1-31

This chapter can be one that many people skip right past. It is full of names and can seem redundant. But wait! The word of God never returns void, and within each passage is something that points to Him. A seemingly small detail emerges as the point that connects our passages. The text said more leaders came from Eleazar, yet there was no hierarchy among the priestly family.

Do you see yourself as a leader? Would you be one of the ones counted among the family of Eleazar? Think of a person who had a great impact on you as a leader. What was it about that person that most impacted you?

What we see is that it was not blood that built leaders, as both brothers had Aaron’s blood. There was something different in Eleazar’s family that helped unlock the leadership gifts. Pay attention to the other scriptures to see what could help God’s power become more evident in you so that you would be remembered as a leader.

“Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will never be shaken. Surely they intend to topple me from my lofty place; they take delight in lies. With their mouths they bless, but in their hearts they curse. Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge…though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them…Power belongs to you, God, and with you, Lord, is unfailing love”; and, “You reward everyone according to what they have done.”Psalms 62:1-12

David was the embodiment of a leader. He had the title. He was king. But we can see that while leadership as a shepherd and king was part of his kingdom identity, he had to grow in what it meant to be a leader.

David showed that a leader leans on and listens to God. David shared what he learned along the way. He learned the measure of success was not material goods. One of the temptations in life can be to allow our possessions to possess our hearts. David said a leader puts their trust in God alone and continually avoids the sin of pride by cleansing the heart with confession. He said to pour out your heart to God. What do you need to empty before the Almighty?

Time and again, David spoke of the need to turn to God for refuge and rest. Why? The truth is leaders will come under more attack than others. The enemy does not have to do as much to undermine people who do not make a difference in the world. The more you stand for God, the more hardships you will have to endure. This is why you need to know how to recharge and find refuge in God.

The truth is you are made to be a vessel of God’s power. It is not your power. It is the Holy Spirit at work within you and through you. David said power belongs to God, but then he immediately connects it to how God uses power through perfect love. We live in a world that abuses power. We see leaders left and right who try to line their pockets and are willing to let people starve. God’s power is different. It is perfect love and casts out fear. God is looking for people who will lay down their lives to become leaders who will allow His love to flow through them like David.

David said God rewards each person according to what they have done. There are people who have followed Jesus whose focus is on not sinning, and not sinning is good. But leaders do not live not to lose. They recognize that doing nothing is doing something. Ask yourself if you’ve been more focused on avoiding sin or actively using the power within you.

How do you think God will reward the person who did not sin but never did anything to help others? Leaders look honestly at their gifts, then go see who they can help. Jesus did not celebrate the one without sin. He said live so that you will hear the words well done, good and faithful servant.

“My son, pay attention to my wisdom, turn your ear to my words of insight, that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge. For the lips of the adulterous woman drip honey, and her speech is smoother than oil; Her feet go down to death; her steps lead straight to the grave. She gives no thought to the way of life; her paths wander aimlessly, but she does not know it. Keep to a path far from her, do not go near the door of her house…For your ways are in full view of the LORD, and he examines all your paths. The evil deeds of the wicked ensnare them; the cords of their sins hold them fast. For lack of discipline they will die, led astray by their own great folly.”Proverbs 5:1-23

If you want to hear well done as you enter heaven, there are two words that start with d that can take you in the right direction. Solomon said discretion and discipline are markers of those who do God’s will. How well do you like those words? Would you describe yourself as someone who carefully decides what to do and daily does what is right? Or do you like to shoot from the hip and just see what happens each day?

Solomon warns of what can happen when you allow sin into your life or set your foot near seduction. Solomon spoke from experience. The man who had 700 wives and 300 concubines eventually turned from fully devoting his heart to God. Like Solomon, it would not take long to come up with a lengthy list of leaders whose lives were ruined because they allowed temptation and the desires of the flesh to creep into their lives. In Ephesians, Paul said the same thing when he said do not give the enemy a foothold.

The good news is God gives us the tools we need to overcome temptation. Discretion and discipline are the weapons we can use to wage war against anything that leads us away from staying faithful to our heavenly Father. Are you taking the time to listen to God and letting Him have the final say in what you do each day? Where could you use more discipline in your life?

““This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to you, Baruch: You said, ‘Woe to me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.’ But the LORD has told me to say to you, ‘This is what the LORD says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the earth. Should you then seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the LORD, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.”Jeremiah 45:2-5

You may not know much about Baruch, but he is worthy of our attention. He was from a prominent family but chose to serve with the unpopular prophet Jeremiah. No one wanted to hear Jeremiah warn about what happens when people are unfaithful to God. Baruch, however, was someone who willingly chose the hard and unpopular path. He went against the crowd, but this passage is about how he cried out to God as he tried to understand all the hardships he was enduring while serving.

God saw that Baruch still had a lot to learn. He saw that there was more that needed to be done in making him a leader. God asked if Baruch should seek great things for himself. Baruch reminds us that leadership is not measured by what we gain, but true leaders will give up everything to do God’s will. Psalm 62 warned though your riches increase, do not set your heart on them. God was teaching Baruch the same lesson we are called to learn today. Faithful leadership is not measured by comfortable circumstances. Faithful leadership requires love that continually surrenders. Like John the Baptist, the faithful leader prays, he must be greater, I must become less. Where do you need to become less, that Jesus may be lifted up?

“At Iconium Paul and Barnabas went as usual into the Jewish synagogue. There they spoke so effectively that a great number of Jews and Greeks believed. But the Jews who refused to believe stirred up the other Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers. So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders. The people of the city were divided…We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and everything in them. He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.” Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over. They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead…We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.”Acts 14:1-22

God wants to make you a leader, but His definition of leadership may look different than yours. You may never stand on a stage or speak boldly before a crowd like Paul, but there should be signs that God’s power is at work in your life. Leadership like our Lord Jesus looks like allowing God to use who He made you to be, with the gifts He has given you, to bring His love, hope and healing to the world around you. Power belongs to God. Our greatest power is the power to choose to love like Jesus, empowered by the love of Jesus. Discretion tells us which choice is the right, loving choice with each decision we make. Discipline challenges us to keep making the choice that is holy, even if it is hard. Dependence teaches us that both of those are done as we are strengthened by the Holy Spirit.

Do not be surprised when the path you travel proves difficult. Baruch chose the faithful path and discovered that faithfulness did not make life easier. Paul and Barnabas spoke with greater power and saw greater opposition. They were rejected, attacked and pelted by rocks, yet they endured because the love of God always endures. Hardship did not mean God had abandoned them, and it does not mean He abandons us.

God is always teaching and discipling His people to find refuge in Him rather than letting circumstances weaken their resolve or impact their commitment. The leader God can use is not the person who never struggles, but the person who makes the choice to stay faithful through the struggle. When you are tired, pour out your heart to Him. When you feel weak, seek His rest. When you are tempted, choose to remember that God sees everything, so there is never a right time to do the wrong thing. When you experience increase, do not let your heart become so firmly set on the blessing that you stop serving. When the road becomes hard, that may just be a sign that you have chosen wisely which way you are going.

God wants you to be the kind of leader who washes feet and feasts with sinners. He does not want your pride to increase; He wants your love for people to increase as you lead others to Him. Become less so His love can become more visible. Offer Him your heart and your hardships, then go use what He has given you to help someone else. You may never know how many lives your faithfulness will touch, but every day you can choose to be a leader through whom the power of God’s love can flow and in whom everyone can see that God is leading.