Entrusted to Lead预览

THE SECRET TO INFLUENCE

Although we are entitled to all God has in store for us, we must first be rooted in a posture of entrustment, or we risk losing sight of the why: the purpose behind the gifts and assignments God has given us.

There is a vast difference between entitled and entrusted leadership:

One feeds our ego; the other breeds humility.

One is ungrateful; the other is deeply grateful.

One limits our potential and abilities; the other multiplies our abilities as we use them.

One is defensive and makes excuses; the other is vulnerable and authentic.

One blames others for failure; the other is curious to grow from failure and craves feedback.

The entrusted posture is rooted in humility and is driven by a deep sense of gratitude for our God-given gifts that can transform a scarcity mentality into a “more than enough” mindset. Entrusted leaders fully acknowledge that God is the source of their gifts and that the cost of this invaluable entrustment was the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

Entrusted influencers or leaders are not self-serving or self-promoting; instead, they model the servant leadership described by Jesus: “The greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves” (Luke 22:26). This leadership is marked by a life of surrender in which character and integrity flourish. Entrusted leadership and influence are inherently relationally driven by the desire to serve and empower others.

Throughout my life, I have wrestled with maintaining a perspective that prevents my ego or insecurity from turning the invaluable entrustment from God into a sense of entitlement. Perhaps you have had to face an intense battle, and you had no idea until now that it was intended to solidify your heart’s motivation for leadership and influence.

At the end of the day, how you see what you’ve been entrusted with determines your influence.

Here I am, Lord. I surrender to you the areas of entitlement due to ego, insecurity, and scarcity mentality. I am grateful for your entrustment—the cost you paid. Amen.