Blog In Audio:
Greetings,
What does it mean to be a leader for the sake of the body of Christ? Is it about providing Christian programs or expressions of Christian ministry? Is it about providing teachings concerning the Scriptures? Or is it for the fruit of knowing God that is testified in Scripture? The apostle Paul wrote to his spiritual son Timothy regarding the important things for leadership. Those things were about the substance of Timothy’s character and the testimony of his life, not the style of his ministry or the skill of his administration.
1 Timothy 4:12 Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
To be an example in the word is not about being an example in Scripture memory. It is being an example in the substance of the word. It is about setting an example that others can see that is true to the word of God. It is true to being an expression of God. All believers in Christ are to be an example to their world as expressions of God. They are to be true to God’s word. Leaders simply lead others in becoming true to God’s word.
Leaders are to be an example that can inspire others by their conduct in life. Leaders are not examples in conduct while believers are not. All believers in Christ are to be an example to the world as to the conduct of sons and daughters of God. How do we handle the challenges of life? How do we live our lives? How do we respond to others? How do we react to others? How do we live our lives as dads, moms, brothers, sisters, grandparents, friends, and neighbors? Leaders lead for this testimony in the family of God.
What about love? How do we exhibit the character of love in our attitudes and actions in life? All believers in Christ are to exhibit the love of God to their world and leaders lead in this testimony. They demonstrate the character, nature, and way of God in their love for God and for others. Leaders lead others in this testimony.
What about living lives that exhibit a supernatural connection to the Spirit? Do we manifest being spiritual people that inspire others to be the same? This is not about being religious with religious actions and the keeping of religious ceremonies. It is about being people of the spirit. This includes a discerning of spirits and a spiritual example to others in being connected to the Spirit of God at all times. For this reason, I stir up my spirit all day long in praying in the spirit. I don’t make it a religious task; I simply pray without ceasing throughout my day. I choose to have a face-to-face relationship with God all day long.
A leader is to be an example in faith. Faith is a supernatural testimony of responding to the voice of God in our hearts. It is about hearing God and responding to what He says in all things. Like the story of the man who built his house upon the rock, believers are to practice hearing God and responding to what He says in the actions of their lives. Leaders set an example for those they lead in living lives of faith. This is living lives not easily shaken by natural sight. What things look like in the world or in the natural circumstances of our lives don’t determine the footsteps of our lives. What God is speaking to our hearts determines the paths that we choose to take and the actions we choose to make.
Leaders are to be an example in purity. This is to live an innocent and sinless live. To do this requires a connection to God that inspires a change in our hearts and minds to live to be givers of life and not takers of life from others. We live for the wellbeing of others through an intimate connection with God in or hearts. We live lives empowered by God’s grace. The manifest presence of God in our hearts enables us to live lives that exhibit the holy life-giving nature of our heavenly Father in all things. Leaders give themselves to being pure to inspire those they lead to do the same.
All sons and daughters of God give their lives to be known and seen as children of God. It is evidenced in their lives by being a testimony of God’s word, a conduct that is true to being children of God, love that is true to the nature of God’s heart, spirit that is revealed as the life of God even in natural ways, faith that is seen in the works of their lives, and in purity that is true to the heart of God in all things. Leaders set an example in these things that others can see and be inspired to embrace as their way in life.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
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House of Bread Ministry
3210 Meridian St.
Bellingham, WA 98225-1728
