The Men of Iron Minute
by Justin Watkins | Chief Generosity Mentor
Spiritual Leaders See Like Jesus
As Jesus demonstrates, spiritual leadership is not about touting your own agenda above the needs of others. Jesus takes His instructions directly from God the Father and is obedient to the plan, even when it cost Him everything. God’s plan included blueprints for a future result that was and is still far from visible. It is that vision for what is possible that serves as the motivation and goal for His actions in the process.
A spiritual leader sees a potential future in others that is greater than their present.
Paul spells out important instructions for home life in Ephesians 5:21-33. A crucial component for husbands is a vision of their wife that is still in process:
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless (v.25-27).
There will be a day when we will be perfectly restored to the vision God always intended us to be. We will stand before Him without any of the brokenness and sin we currently carry. It can be hard to believe this, let alone see it in our daily lives. But the way Jesus loves and leads is directly connected to a vision well beyond our comprehension.
Paul tells husbands to have the same future focused vision of our wives and to reverse-engineer our efforts back from that result. As a leader, you are to hope and invest in the process of propelling others into that future.
Do you have your vision focused on what can be, rather than what is in front of you? Have you asked the Lord to download His future picture of your wife and family? What are the characteristics, gifts, and impact He wants to equip them with?
Do you see the potential in your family the way Jesus does?
It is important to be self-reflective in your own progress and goals. But remember, the kind of leadership Jesus models is that of humility and intentional consideration of the needs and goals of others around you.
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