LEADERS LIKE CHRIST
“Finally, here is a trustworthy saying, whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.” 1 Timothy 3:1
One thing a leader desires is security. A secured leader is an asset to the organization he/she is leading. If a leader is not secure, he/she don’t even delegates and cannot serve properly because of unwholesome complexes. Most leaders search for security in the followers. But look at the model of Christ, His security was on God and when His followers deserted Him during HHH is trial and death, He still had the heart of gold to tell Mary on the resurrection morning, “Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am ascending to my father and your father, to my God and your God” John 20:17.
Hmm, his brothers indeed. Jesus a great leader and a model.
Psalm 127:1 says it all, unless the Lord is at the center of your efforts, you labor in vain. Wherever we are leading, we cannot fight, build or plan well enough to gain anything permanent. Smart leaders not only include God in their strategies, they placed him at its center. He alone can provide leaders with security. We cannot get it from followers.
John 5:30 “By myself I can do nothing”. Is this uttered by a frustrated man who has given up? Is this spoken by a man beaten down by life and whose confidence is shattered? No, this was spoken by the son of God, Christ a model of leadership.
Consider the following list of rules regarding security and people.
People cannot provide permanent security for a leader. Leaders should never put their emotional health in the hands of someone else. Spiritual and emotional health requires the truth. Leaders must remember that hurting people naturally hurt people and trouble arises when leaders depend on people to do only what God can do.
Security is found in the Lord, not in followers.
2. BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE.
Romans 15:13 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
Naturally, anyone that knows everything about you with all precision, all the bad and good will look down on you and you will be in an emotional bondage in his presence. But Christ knows everything about us and even our next turn and how we will be in the future, but still love us, cherish us, give us liberty, and never used his knowledge to make us inferior, but rather give us the spirit of son-ship. This does not mean we should be careless with such a great love and continue in sin for his grace and love to abound.
As believers we can receive that blessing of hope. We can indeed. But many of us live under the weight of our own failures. We know too well our flaws and they rob us of hope. Some of us are burdened with the crushing sense of inferiority. We run scared, afraid of being caught in some folly that we failed to notice. Some of us bear the scars of pain we cannot forget and damage we cannot repair, for some guilty memories keep shame and self-contempt alive in our hearts. Some feel imprisoned in a loveless home or a soul destroying routine that encourages us to resent our very existence. In these troubling settings, emotional exhaustion leaves our faith as fragile as cotton wool.
The final answer to this flawed condition of hopelessness is that God loves, redeems pardons, restores, protects, keeps, and even use us in this our state if we are humble enough to depend on him. God blessed and used us even as he leads us forward out of the bondage of our own defects into truer godliness.
As Christians then we are not beyond hope. Let our hope of salvation brings more joyful hope and a desire to be of use to God. May we hope that God will use us each day to his glory, even though we are not yet as fitting as he desired. Behold what manner of love is this that a perfect and Holy God can show us this kind of recognition and how glorious is this Good News.
3. BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE.
Hebrews 6:18-20 “God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
The two unchangeable things on which Christians are given hope are the promises of God that he swears by himself as God and his oath that he will bring about the promise. Jesus speaking in John 14:2 “if it were not so I would have told you” this assurance was beyond the confine of the earth and the security of this assurance is worthy of dependence. It is a hope beyond the grave. Our cardinal hope as Christian is beyond this life and it outlast the strength of the grave. The hope we receive from Christ comes from His power over Satan, Sin and Spiritual Death. He took the cross and confirmed the promise of God to send a redeemer. Any promise outside him is short lived.
1 John 3:1 “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him.”
Behold what manner of love is this that we that are supposed to be condemned can be called the sons of God. The hope that comes from God does not lead to shame because it is authentic; signed, sealed and delivered. To the world, hope is optimism; but to the Christians, it is a promise of an unchanging love.
Knowing the hope, we have is beyond the grave and beyond this earthly life, it should give us joy even in trials and tribulation. Jesus did not only proclaim life after death, he demonstrated by his death and resurrection and today as we believe in him we have assurance and we should not be ashamed to be called his follower and his son.
Behold what manner of love that we are given a hope beyond the grave. Stephen understood that promised. While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’ Acts 7:59. The identity of a Christian has everything to do with the living hope in the glory of God. God has called us to an eternal hope beyond the riches of this world.
Ephesians 1:18-21 “I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.” Behold what manner of Love the Father has given to us that we should be part of this eternal promise beyond the grave.
4. BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE.
1 JOHN 3:1 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are —-.”
Some people get lost in the crowd because they don’t see other way in which they can go. The problem Christians have to face in relation to the crowd is this: if we do not belong to others we are frustrated, and if we give ourselves to them without discrimination we become spiritually stunted and demeaned. But there is a way out. It is to have our minds centered on God. we belong to the crowd, but that must not have our first allegiance. Our first allegiance is to God. when the crowd is not going in God’s direction then we must break with it, and it must be a clean break, not one that is infected- infected with resentment, bitterness or self-pity. Some people are bound to the opinions of others that they cannot operate a Christian mind.
A test paper was given to a set of young men that wish to enroll as emergency nurse; in the paper the examiner described a messy scene on a street that could be difficult to handle and concluded with a question- how would you proceed to deal with the situation? One applicant wrote: I will slip out of my uniform and get lost in the crowd.
We might do the same in those circumstances, but the mentality that wants to get lost in the crowd is not a Christian mentality. A true Christian refuses to escape into anonymity. Remember, our Lord Jesus never went along with the crowd, even though it meant going to the cross.
Let us check, are they situations that we need to stand out and we failed? Are they situations we need to speak and we remain quiet? Are they situations where we decide to compromise? Have we allowed the crowd to feed our social life and also determine our spiritual life? Have we ever prayed for God to give a Christian mindset that will stand out and influence the crowd without running away or evade responsibilities?
Behold what manner of Love is this, that the same person that we refuse to obey and camp with the crowd of ungodliness decided to forgive us, draw us to himself, adopt us and give us the spirit of son-ship that will qualify us to cry ABBA FATHER, he gave us right to be heirs of eternal life.
Romans 8:12-17 “Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of son-ship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
How will you escape God’s judgement if we neglect God’s great love and adoption?
5. BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE.
1 JOHN 3:1 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are —-.”
When we behold or ponder, we have reason to marvel at the manner of love that the Father has given to us that we are not consumed; the obvious is that we are not better than the victims of the several pandemics that bedeviled the world.
Easter period is about the death and resurrection of Christ. His mission was a life of weakness, helplessness, humiliation and a kind of shame were around about him. The choice was one of the primary laws of him becoming flesh, as a mission and token of love to a fallen humanity. In the span of days, hear the words that were used about Christ- He saved others let him save himself, he is dead, he is buried, see where they laid him, he is not here, why seeking the living among the dead, he is risen, he is alive.
You can feel the transition of feelings or emotions at the mention of these words. From sorrow, pity, anguish to joy and happiness. The resurrection of Christ is foundational to our Christian faith. Paul writes 1 Corinthians 15:14 “And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith”
Behold what manner of love is this that we can be beneficiary of this resurrection and a pointer to our resurrection at the close of the age. It was as if weakness was so new to the Omnipotent. To show forth power in weakness, to be feeble and yet to be strong also, and not only strong together with weakness, but actually because of it- this was to display one of those hidden and nameless perfections in God, which we should perhaps never have seen except by the light of him taking on the flesh to become son of man.
His disgraces are crowned with luster and become our nobilities, but the fallen humanity have no eye to recognize the splendor of the new manner of victory and love whose triumphs are in the depths of humiliation. Behold what manner of love that the Father is consistently seeking to bring us to the place where we will recognize the benefits of the life, death and resurrection of Christ. Thanks be to the Father of love that he gave the Holy Spirit that dwells in us and apply the Salvation.
May our heart desire on a daily basis be to love him as we are loved. How will you escaped God’s judgement if you neglect such great love?
Happy Easter and stay safe in the hollow of His hands.
6. BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE.
1 JOHN 3:1 “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are —-.”
Few weeks away from Easter celebration, let us still reflect the kind of love that surrounds the period. Before the resurrection morning, the life of Christ was a life of weakness, helplessness, humiliation and a kind of shame were around about him. The experience was one of the primary thing that necessarily will come on him because he took upon himself human flesh, as a mission and token of love to a fallen humanity, he laid it down himself for our sake and for our Salvation.
John 10:9 “I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. He will come in and go out, and find pasture.”
The door of faith is a narrow one, very narrow that it cannot size the self-righteous. The self-righteous are kept outside till they remove from themselves the crown and robes of pride and stand at the door naked and clothed only with the cloth of godly sorrow. We must make ourselves small to get in. we must creep on our knees, we must leave everything outside, we must go in one by one, not with our church members, or with our spiritual leaders, or with our good works, or with our morality or with our religion and denominational affiliations. The door opens into a palace, but it is too narrow for anyone who trust himself. It opens to people that put their faith in the works of Christ.
Every person that has found Christ has found him through the low door of the cross. We are brought to that narrow door by series of personal choices. Behold what manner of love, our Lord begins where we would never begin, at the point of human hardship. The greatest blessing a man ever get from God is the opportunity to enter His kingdom through the door Christ opened by his life, death and resurrection.
God did not tell his ancient saints to remember only the battles fought and the enemies slain, but his word was, you shall remember all the ways the Lord your God led you to humble and prove you. His humbling is as divine as his uplifting, and it is his hand on us, breaking us and emptying us that makes us fit for his use. Let our prayers be that we value and welcome all that Christ has done and teach, that our dependence on him will be good enough for us to enter through the narrow door.
Behold what manner of love that the Father has bestow on us that when we are weak and tired, he drew us to himself by his strength. He worked his will in us with the help of the Holy Spirit. Behold what manner of love that the life of the risen Lord could be formed in me and within my soul.
Philippians 3:9-11 “and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ — the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.” God is looking for broken people that have judged themselves in the light of the cross of Christ. Those that have come to the end of themselves and whose trust and confidence is not in themselves, but in God.
Behold what manner of love that the Father has given that we are called children of God.
7. BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.” John 3:16-18
IF YOU ARE A BELIEVER IN MIRACLES, THIS SHOULD BE ONE.
A story was told of a lady that was a window washer. Catastrophe struck one day while working up high to wash the pavement on the forty-fifth floor. As she was working, their platform collapsed and she fell from there. We can conveniently say it was a fall from the sky.
She did not land on a passing airplane or landed on a moving truck with mattresses or air bed or anything else amazing like we see in the movie. He fell right to the pavement below. By every law of physics and medicine, she should have died. But somehow she survived. For weeks in the hospital she hung on to life by a thread. Then after few months, she spoke and reach out to the edge of her bed and make effort to stand up and in weeks later she started walking. If you are a believer in miracles, this would be one. It must be an unseen hand and the sustainer of life that kept her.
In the beginning, not the beginning of God, but the beginning of the world; God created man and put in him the ability to exhibit a God-like life and provided him with choice to obey or disobey. But, Adam fell from a great height, indescribable height, greater than the height of the skyscrapers. From sinless glory in the image of God, Adam rebelled against God and fell into sin, death and judgement and in his terrible fall he brought with him the whole human race. For a considerable length of time, he hung on to life but without holiness and innocence. God sustained him with the blood of animals in a cumbersome process of atonement and sacrifice.
Behold what manner of love that the father has given to us that sons of Adam that fell could be alive and not ordinarily living, but a life in the Spirit. That a mortal and carnal sons of Adam could have a taste of spiritual life and with an assurance of eternal life. The love that made the exchange of eternal death with eternal life possible.
God the Son left heaven and descended to the earth to become man. Christ died to free us from the entanglement of our sinful minds and strangle hold of our minds. A plan where all the pieces’ fits together for the purpose of restoring our lives. Wonderful God of creation, thank you for the provision of your salvation. Thanks for your willingness to die so that I can live and be born again.
No matter how nutritious a food may be, if it is only served in the plate and is not taken in, it will serve no one any good. So is the accomplished work of salvation- we must internalized it, make it our own, cherish it, embrace it with all our being and love it with all and in absolute surrender. As precious as this salvation through Christ, we must believe for us to be saved. Let our daily prayers be; Lord help us to live our lives in consonant with your will. Help us to walk in trust and obedience, for there is no other way to be happy in the experience of salvation or to be a beneficiary of the life of forgiveness Christ procured. How will you escape God’s judgement if you reject such a great love?
8. BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE.
“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it — he will be blessed in what he does.” James 1:22-25.
Spiritual growth occurs when faith is cultivated. It is not achieved by merely hearing the word but by doing it. Sometimes we find it difficult to change and we wonder how or if ever we will. Yet God desires that we change and grace is multiplied to strengthen us. We need to cooperate and submit to His growth plan. Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us that He not only tell us to come to Him, but provided the direction and the strength to walk up to Him. He also forewarned us of the danger of rejecting His instructions. We have the choice anyway to obey or disobey to our own joy or regrets.
A story was told of a man and his younger brother. The younger brother would never wear a seat belt in the car. He warned him for it and the brother would listen as he talks and off he will go without a seatbelt. Then one day he picked his elder brother up at the airport, and he had his seat belt on. The elder brother asked, “what happened and what changed you?”.
He replied, “I went to visit a friend of mine in the hospital who was in a car accident and went through the windshield, he had several stiches in his face and I said to myself I better wear my seat belt.” Do you know that if you did not wear your seat belt you would go through the windshield if you had an accident? The elder brother asked. Of course I knew it he said, when I went to the hospital to see my friend, I got no new information, but the information I had before became new. The information got real to my heart and finally sank down and affected the way I live now.
Not many of us may have it that way- to learn an important lesson as this from another person. For some, it may be yourself and you may not survive to learn any lesson, but to enter eternity with regrets of the lessons you heard and refused to practice.
We are called to be doers of the word of God, but sadly some of us are just hearers. The Bible tells us to fasten up, because it is going to be a rough ride in this world; we are going to be riding against the world and her systems, values and against sin; and we would not want to end up going through a spiritual windshield, the effects of which we may never recover from.
Behold what manner of love is this that God, allowed His word to provide a guide and keep our spirit safe with the truths and help us with the Holy Spirit to be doer of the word. We have the opportunity to heed to the warnings as God will not arm twist to obeying Him.
What a difference between man and God! the creator always complete what He has started. We are His master pieces, planned in eternity past and begun in time, will be brought to fulfilment in eternity future. As we struggle to be more like Christ, we must be doers and not hearers only. A soul’s conversion is the miracle of a moment; the growth of a saint is the work of a life time and we must take responsibility to grow according to the rules. Behold what manner of love that the Father will not leave us alone, but promised to be with us all the way. We only need to trust and obey.
9. BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE.
“But God has revealed it to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words. The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual man makes judgments about all things, but he himself is not subject to any man’s judgment.” 1 Corinthians 2:10-15.
A story was told of a powerful village and a very weak one that entered into a dispute about a piece of land that had gold deposit. The crisis lingered unresolved and degenerated to a plan to enter into war. The powerful village drew their plan and comprehensive war strategies; and with all confidence and certainty of victory prepared for the war. The weak village were the real owner of the land with gold deposit, but were almost sure they will lose the war to the powerful village and distressingly the gold deposit. Three days to the war, the war plan and the strategy of the powerful village fell into the hands of the weak village. They understood the tactics of the powerful village and defeated the war within a span of nine hours to the surprise and astonishment of the remnants of the village and the other surrounding people.
Behold what manner of love is this, that God has given us the Holy Spirit. In some respect, we are no match for our adversary, Satan; because the war for our soul that is more than gold is not physical and the strategy is spiritual planned. But with the Holy Spirit, our enemy master plans have fallen into our hands. Behold what manner of love that we are privy to the scheme and the details of his strategies. We know his strategies to entice us with lies, lust, greed and to disobey the word of God. With such knowledge, given us in God’s word, and God Spirit within, we can resist the enemy’s advances and disallow him from capturing the territory. The popular song- something more than gold, the Spirit of God in the heart of man is something more than gold is worthy of consideration. With the Spirit of God, the strength and strategies of Satan to capture and enslave us have fallen into our hands. Behold what manner of love that God has given us sufficient information and the vulnerable and falling points in this warfare. Behold what manner of love the father has lavished on us that, He supplied us with the armor for the battle.
Ephesians 6:10-17 “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armour of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore, put on the full armour of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.”
Behold what manner of love, Lord God. We thank you for equipping us for this battle with your word. May we use it properly to resist the enemy and help build your kingdom among the people.
10. BEHOLD WHAT MANNER OF LOVE.
“Casting the whole of your care [all your anxieties, all your worries, all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares for you affectionately and cares about you watchfully.” 1 Peter 5:7 AMP.
Behold what manner of love we found in Christ, that we can cast our anxieties on Him for free and with no negative strings attached. The only string is- Just believe that He cares and then place it on Him. The assurance we have from Christ is our foundation for joy and operations. Our song of thanksgiving is- we have a very big God who is always by our side. We have the concrete assurance that nothing escapes His control. Our future and that of all our clients and stakeholders are in His loving hands. This has been the main reason for our existence all the years. Even when it seems that our hearts are torn between so many different things, because of our work experiences and reality of human unfairness against the less privileged of the society. Our attention is never cornered away from Christ; the love of our life. We on a daily basis marvel on the manner of love and to Him alone we owe our allegiance.
Anxiety grows from uncertainty mixed with fear, it puts us in the anguish of waiting for a solution that may at times never come. Anxiety creates problems that do not exist, it leads us to suffer from things that may not happen. It steals our peace of mind and prevent us from finding solutions. Anxiety must be removed to avoid hasty decisions, actions that do not help to bring a solution, and despair that can result from being in a crisis. Casting your cares on Christ is not to be done with a confusing attitude sandwiched with likelihoods, on the contrary, it is a vital attitude based on faith, it is to believe that nothing escapes God’s control. This understanding can completely remove the cause for anxiety.
Rather than saying, “the Lord has abandoned me” maybe it is time to turn to God and experience His restoration and fellowship. When we live within God’s will and love, it is possible to celebrate life again. We can come to God and believe that He will restore the joy of our Salvation. We should not allow anxiety to separate us from the Love of God.
The world is full of lonely people. People suffer separation from friends and family. Many people are lonely even within their own homes, surrounded by their families- these are experiences of some of our clients we work with every day. But in all the world is offering, we can behold a manner of love given by Christ and by that we can laid aside every weight that will make us to be anxious and thank God for always being with us and also for being our strength. Putting our anxieties into God’s hands is an act of faith that brings tranquillity, serenity, and hope and develop our strength in times of trials. “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:33. These are words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let our prayers be- Loving Father, we wish to live as your children. Please forgive us our failings, and restore our spiritual strength so that we can honour and do your will even in the world full of challenges and with every reasons to be anxious. Help us to cast it on you all the times. Behold what manner of love that we can be called children of a caring God. Let us make effort not to fall out of His caring arms. Sin can get us out- so let us be wise unto obedience to His commands.
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