WISE INTENTIONAL LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT
TITUS EMAIL
Volume 12, Number 12– DECEMBER, 2018
Merry and a Blessed Christmas to you and your family! God is good! It is my prayer that you will be able to worship the Savior together with your family and you get wrapped in His thoughts and who He is. The next idol we are looking at is power. It may very well the one we most spiritualize. The song lyrics at the end of this email go along with this discussion on power. Thanks for reading and pondering what God speaks to you. Again a blessed Christmas season to you. Mike
IDOL OF POWER
Power is dangerous and intoxicating. This has repeated by many, “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Power is like holding dynamite in your hands. No wonder Paul exhorted church leadership to not allow a recent convert in a place of leadership (1 Timothy 3:6).
A third idol of leadership is power. Edmund Burke once wrote, “The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse”. We must constantly be checking our motives for being in leadership positions if for no other reason than to keep our power in check. Leadership is influencing people. How or why we want to influence people is the question. Also, if we want to be in leadership because we want to be recognized, that can trigger power issues.
When the longing for power takes hold of a leader, decisions that leader makes will be selfish and self-fulling because he or she wants to be recognized. Being a servant leader is not part of the leader’s motivation. Your desire is not to bless others but be known to them. Your thirst to be able to tell someone else what to do is stimulating. To feel and be seen as having control over others enamors you.
If you or I think that by training another person in a job we currently perform, that we will not be needed any longer or people may think we are not doing our job, that is a power idol issue. I want people to see me as a leader and admire me for it. If I think, “The more power I have available to me, the more people will respect me.”, that is a dangerous thinking process to harbor. The “title” is it. “If I have that title and all the benefits of that title, people will respect me and treat as they should. I don’t need to develop anyone.”
You love your title as leader more than what your task of serving and developing others. Being given the title of “pastor”, “coach”, “man of God” or “boss” causes you to treat others in a way you would NOT want to be treated, be careful because power is consuming your motives. Jesus was very careful about titles given to Him. He was most comfortable with being called servant or slave. How would you or I like to be called, “Slave”?
Power can be compared to a mighty river. When it stays within it banks, the river is beautiful, a major source for live and is awe-inspiring. But when a river overflows and left to flow wherever it wants to go, lives and land are destroyed. What was to be used for electricity, food source, transportation and enjoyment became a raging current of death and destruction. 41st President of the United States and very recently passed away, George Bush prayed in his Inaugural Address of 1989: “For we are given power not to advance our own purposes nor to make a great show in the world, nor a name. There is but one use of power and it is to serve people.”
When the Samaritans did not welcome Jesus and the apostles to stay in their village, James and John wanted to use the power Jesus had available to Him and send down fire from heaven to destroy them (Luke 9:51-56). They thought, “Teach those Samaritans a lesson and forget offering them any grace because we have our agenda and the Samaritans are in the way of our agenda. Use force to our advantage.” Their thoughts were not to serve but to show who was boss and complete their agenda.
Intentionally pursue that when being given a position of power over people, it is to serve, and only serve. Know that the dynamite of power in your hand can be used to help and assist others or destroy their lives.
YOUTH MINISTRY – ECCLESIASTES 4 RELATIONSHIP
Do you like to do things on your own or with others? How you answer the question gives insight to the kind of personality you have. Some friends I have love to do everything they can with others and still experience a lot totally on their own. For me, I can prefer to do a lot by myself. It is how we are made. No matter how we are put together, involving people in our lives is vital.
King Solomon expressed this in Ecclesiastes 4:9-12. Doing life together offers protection to you. A good friend should hold you accountable, to a higher standard. It is much easier to slide or get off-track when you are all by yourself because you often do not realize you are getting off course. It is like owning a watch or having the time on your phone.
If your timing instrument does not have any other time instrument to compare itself to, your timing instrument could be just a little bit slower or faster and over time begin to give you the wrong time. Not being able to compare your instrument with another, lulls you into a false security that your instrument is right all the time. The same is for our lives as we need to rub shoulders with others to help us keep the right focus on how we live life and what we believe.
As the passage states, if a person falls down when he/she is all by oneself, there is no one to help the person up or the encouragement to get back up. Two people keep each other warmer when next to each other. Two people have the ability to spur each other on; when one gets discouraged, the other can encourage. It is harder to be defeated by anything or anyone if you are not alone.
There is no such thing as a self-made person. Just think about all the people who have been in your life’s path that encouraged you, provided advice, finances, direction along your life’s journey to have you where you are today. God meant for us to lean on each other because we are social beings and are in need of relationships.
Unfortunate and devastating psychology studies completed many years ago during the Communist regime in Romania revealed that in a government ward, babies who were not attended to except to feed and change their diapers nor held died quicker nor had greater mental issues in life compared to babies that were held and properly cared for. These terrible findings reveal we need one another even at an early age to feel the physical and emotional touch of others to survive.
Solomon concludes this passage by saying that a cord of three strand does not break easily. When you add in the relationship with Jesus into the mix of your relationship with your friend or companion, that bond breaks through a lot of stuff that occurs in life. If you want great friendships, Jesus must be an active part of those relationships. If you want a growing, dynamic marriage and family life, Jesus must be an integral part of your marriage and family relationships.
The beginning of such relationships has its origins with how each of us are doing in our relationship with Jesus. If you personally have a growing relationship with Him, that will bleed into human relationships and a cord of three stands does not easily get broken. To be personally healthy physically, emotionally and socially, you need quality relationships with the people to whom you allow into your life. In 2019, diligently pursue developing your relationship with Jesus and then with one another.
ONLY JESUS by Casting Crowns
Make it count, leave a mark, build a name for yourself
Dream your dreams, chase your heart, above all else
Make a name the world remembers
But all an empty world can sell is empty dreams
I got lost in the light but it was up to me
To make a name the world remembers
But Jesus is the only name to remember
And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy
I don’t care if they remember me
Only Jesus
And I, I’ve only got one life to live
I’ll let every second point to Him
Only Jesus
All the kingdoms built, all the trophies won
Will crumble into dust when it’s said and done
‘Cause all that really matters
Did I live the truth to the ones I love
Was my life the proof that there is only One
Whose name will last forever
And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy
I don’t care if they remember me
Only Jesus
And I, I’ve only got one life to live
I’ll let every second point to Him
Only Jesus
Jesus is the only name
Jesus is the only name
Jesus is the only name to remember
Jesus is the only name
Jesus is the only name
Jesus is the only name to remember
And I, I don’t want to leave a legacy
I don’t care if they remember me
Only Jesus
And I, I’ve only got one life to live
I’ll let every second point to Him
Only Jesus
I don’t want to leave a legacy
I don’t care if they remember me
Only Jesus