Leading ThroughSample

Heaven Rules

All leadership is a stewardship, but it's temporary. It is on loan. Eventually, we either give it away, or it'll be taken away. Knowing there's an expiration date on our influence should inform our posture, tone, and humility as leaders. 

Everybody is accountable to somebody for how they steward or manage their influence. Today's passage from Scripture reminds us that our accountability as leaders goes beyond a boss, a board, a constituency, or a base. Ultimately, we are accountable to God for how we lead and how we leverage our influence. Jesus taught this, and today's text illustrates it.

Nebuchadnezzar was a military and political leader who confused progress with greatness, which is easy to do, isn't it? He was ultimately brought to his senses in a very unusual way.

King Nebuchadnezzar had a disturbing dream that he was absolutely sure had significance for him and possibly for Babylon. He dreamed there was an enormous, beautiful tree that was visible to all the earth. All the animals of the earth rested under the canopy of it, and it provided food for them. In the dream, he heard a loud voice from heaven that said, "Cut it down." Then, the enormous tree was suddenly cut down to a stump. When King Nebuchadnezzar woke up from this dream, he was terrified. While interpreting the dream, Daniel tells the king, “The Most High God has decreed that you will be driven away from humanity. You are about to become like a wild animal. You're going to humiliate yourself publicly, and this will go on until you finally acknowledge that the Most High God [not you] is sovereign over the kingdoms on earth” (Daniel 4:24–25, author’s paraphrase). Then, Daniel gave him a little bit of good news. He said, "Your kingdom will eventually be restored to you when you acknowledge that Heaven rules” (Daniel 4:26).

What you do with your influence determines whether or not you are a leader worth following. When we view our influence as a temporary stewardship for which we are accountable, we will be far less likely to focus it all or leverage it all on ourselves. We will be far more inclined to leverage our leadership and our influence for the sake of those we have the privilege to lead. We won't need to be reminded that greatness is more than progress.

Whether you're leading a family, business, nonprofit, division, department, team, city, state, or nation, remember this—leadership, at every level, is always a stewardship. It is always temporary, and you are accountable. Here's why: “Because the Most High is sovereign over the kingdoms of men, and he gives them temporarily to anyone he wishes” (Daniel 4:25, author’s paraphrase).