Christian Leadership Foundations 3 - Heartናሙና

A HEART FOR GOD’S WORD

Leadership Devotion

King David’s son, Solomon, became king of Israel at a crucial time. Under David, Israel had expanded its borders. It had become a prosperous and influential nation. It had gained both peace and prestige, but David’s brilliant leadership had ended, and his young and inexperienced son (1 Chron. 22:5) had been selected to lead the nation. It was an excellent opportunity but also a considerable challenge for Solomon. He was following an extremely successful leader.

At 34, I was a youth pastor in a large church when I sensed God’s call to step up in leadership. I obeyed God and became the sole pastor of a smaller church. The pastor I followed in this church once led the largest church in the denomination and was pastoring part-time in his retirement. I had huge shoes to fill. The church was going well. As you can imagine, everyone was nervous about a youth pastor leading the church, including me, but this was nothing compared to Solomon’s challenges.

When God appeared to Solomon and offered him anything he wanted, I’m sure young Solomon’s mind was full of possibilities. Success. Power. Fame. Significance. Recognition. Victory. These are the things young leaders dream of, but Solomon knew his father’s success was due to God’s grace and work, and he desperately wanted to continue in his dad’s ways. To do this well, he needed wisdom and lots of it. So that’s what he asked God for - his one big wish was wisdom.

Many challenges prevent Christian leaders from being effective long-term. The temptations of money, sex, and power are three of the most common. But by far, the deepest problem for Christian leaders is lack of wisdom. It’s the Achilles heel that keeps coming back to bite many leaders. It creates conflict; it produces poor decisions, and it brings unnecessary pain and failure.

Wisdom understands people and situations and difficulties and opportunities from God’s perspective. It’s not being smart. Wisdom knows what is good and right and prudent and godly. It knows how God thinks and what God wants.

God granted Solomon’s request for wisdom (1 Kings 4:29-34) and gave him everything else as well. Solomon’s incredible success came mainly through the exercise of his wisdom. No wonder he said, “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding. Esteem her, and she will exalt you; embrace her, and she will honor you” (Prov. 4:7-8).

To Contemplate

Have you ever considered wisdom to be of such value? Where in your life are there opportunities to ‘get wisdom’?

Leadership Reflection

We have seen that a heart for God will be evidenced by the fruit of godly character. Leaders with a heart for God will reflect God in their lives. They will look something like Jesus, but another aspect of the heart is also important. That is a heart for God’s word, God’s truth. This involves a deep desire to know what God thinks and says; a passion for understanding his will and ways. It is a heart to listen carefully to God and see things as he does.

Knowing God well will inevitably involve an understanding of Scripture. The Bible is an incredible resource in helping us understand God and his will, but a heart for God’s word does not equate with knowledge of the Bible. These are two different things. People who strive to understand Scripture can be driven by all sorts of motives. Some want to prove they are right, some want to justify what they are doing, and some want to flaunt their knowledge. They use Scripture for their purposes. These people have no true heart for God’s word.

The Jewish religious leaders in Jesus’ day were like that. They studied and debated Scripture incessantly, but they had no desire to know God’s truth when it was revealed in Jesus. Biblical knowledge is important in Christian leadership, but it doesn’t equate with a heart for God’s word.

Some signs that Christian leaders have a genuine heart for God’s word/truth are:

· They come to Scripture with a humble attitude to learn and grow. They readily submit to the authority of Scripture.

· They are constantly learning and rethinking their understanding of God and his ways to align their understanding more closely with God’s revelation.

· They seek to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit who reveals God’s truth.

· They consistently reflect on life to discern how God is moving and what God says.

· Their praying involves listening to God as well as talking to God.

· They intentionally seek out and learn from others who have a heart for God’s word.

· They are growing in their knowledge of God, but they are humble about it, knowing that God’s truth is far greater than their minds will ever comprehend.

Christian leaders with a heart for God’s word will develop godly wisdom. There are many wise people in our world, and we need to listen to them and learn from them. Paul makes it clear that God’s wisdom is not like natural wisdom, especially when it comes to the gospel (1 Cor. 1:18-24). Real wisdom doesn’t just come from studying God’s world and how he moves; it comes from knowing God through Jesus.

The wisdom that flows from a heart for God’s truth is attractive. James describes it like this: “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere” (Jam 3:17).

This type of wisdom is important in Christian leaders. The more we understand God and know what he wants, the more we will be able to influence people towards God’s purposes and directions, and the more we will be able to help them live God’s way. As the book of Proverbs says: “Wisdom is supreme; therefore get wisdom. Though it cost you all you have, get understanding” (Prov. 4:7).

Our heart for God shows when we think like God. This is godly wisdom.