SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP
Ah! Here God shares His heart about one of the basic struggles of leadership – keeping those who follow and have appreciated our example, from making their love for us into something robotic, mechanical, unresponsive, unfeeling, humorless, unemotional, cold, lifeless, boring, dull, and uninteresting!
As I wrote in an earlier journal entry, Jesus modeled an excellent plan to keep love alive, by using his last meal with his disciples on earth to actually picture his sacrifice of love, in obedience to the Heavenly Father, as being far superior than the sacrifice of any animal or bird. (1 Corinthians 11)
1. A “picturing” of how the body of the only begotten Son of the living God was broken for us;
2. A “picturing” of His blood as being shed in covenant with God concerning our salvation.
Unfortunately, even this can end up being a meaningless ritual! That is why the 50th Psalm is a great reminder of who God really is! He is not interested in the “mechanical stuff”! He wants our grateful thanksgiving! This takes conscious effort on our parts. But, again this does not mean bringing more elaborate gifts to God, either!
So, how does this “flesh” out? It is simply to allow the picture to be recreated in our own lives. This speaks of two aspects:
1. Presenting our bodies and emotions to God as a thankful offering of love as we observe carefully how meet the needs of others; (Romans 12:1-2) The highest form of this is meeting betrayal with forgiving love – remember Judas.
2. Keeping our covenants with God, even to the point of blood, remembering that the price of blood for our sins has already been paid! (Hebrews 12:4) The highest form of this is to lay down our very lives if necessary, to make the Gospel, really the Good News!
You will actually have “God-sightings” in your life if you practice this.
Just yesterday, as I concluded singing at a local convalescent home, a gentleman confined to a wheel chair, with no use of his left arm, and who could no longer speak, (probably due to one or more strokes), wanted to help me pack up the small amplifier, wires, etc. He wheeled his chair to the electrical outlet, and carefully pulled it out. Using his one arm, he put the wire into the box, and shoved it over to where I was putting the rest of the equipment away. While I have always sensed gratitude for my coming to the home, he is the only resident that has ever helped me actually pack up, in all of my 22 years of going there!
I decided to picture this all in a statement directly to the Lord at work in him, by telling him that. He actually began to help me push the cart, while wheeling his wheel chair as well!
Created over 1 year ago
