Whose Agenda are You On – Yours or God’s?

I was reading Luke recently and took note of a passage found in 4:42-44.  “At daybreak, Jesus went out to a solitary place.  The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.  But he said, ‘I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also because that is why I was sent.’ And he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea.”

To put this in context, the day before, Jesus had just healed Simon’s mother-in-law of the fever and healed many others as well.  So the word about Jesus was spreading like wildfire in the town where He was. It was like a wealthy man came to town handing out money and more and more people wanted to their piece of him (or more accurately, they wanted to get something from him). Yet, early the next day, Jesus got up and sought out from His Father what was on the Father’s agenda for Jesus that coming day.

But He was gaining so much notoriety in that town, surely He should have stayed to soak it all in, heal some more people, maybe get elected as the mayor of that town – after all no one else had come and made such a favorable impression.  No one else had such a positive impact on the people.  That is precisely the way many of us probably would have responded.  We may have said, “hey, it seems like I am really needed in this community – if I say for awhile, I can really do some good.” What we are really interested in is being noticed and looked up to by others.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, it is just that it is not how God wants us to decide how to spend our day!

Jesus gives us a lesson on how we should set our agenda each day.  Jesus began the day by spending time with His Father to hear what was on His Father’s heart.  That and that alone would establish His schedule for the day.  Notice what the people tried to do – “they tried to keep him from leaving them.”  They knew what a valuable person Jesus was and they didn’t want to let Him go or share Him with anyone else.  The people were focused on what they could get out of the situation.  But God had other plans and purposes. Jesus sought to see where the Father was working – that was His assignment for the day, and not what the people wanted Him to do. In the passage quoted above, Jesus said that His plans were different because He heard from His Father what was important for that day – and it wasn’t in the town where He was – it was elsewhere.

After the Resurrection, Peter and some others went fishing and were out all night. They didn’t catch anything.  Interestingly, there was no mention that they went to God beforehand to determine if that was what He wanted them to do that evening. The next morning, Jesus was on shore and after hearing that Peter didn’t catch anything, He said to drop the nets on the right side of the boat (See John 21:1-6). You remember what happened next – they caught so many fish, their nets were about to break!

Ask God each day for His revelation as to where He wants you to invest your time that day. Ask Him to let you know which side of your boat He wants you to drop the nets. Whatever you do in obedience to God’s agenda will produce far greater results that what you can possibly do on your own.

Do you seek out the Father each day and allow the Holy Spirit to set  your agenda for the day? Do you try to seek out where God is working?  Are you on the lookout for the people who may be seeking godly counsel?  Or are you too busy attending to what you think is needed to be successful today?

Investing Time in Developing Leaders

We have heard many of many well-respected and influential leaders talk about the necessity for developing leaders underneath them, and to ultimately take their place. Jack Welch was known to say that his most important job was to identify and develop his successor.  He would say that he spent 50% of his time on developing leaders.

Leaders must commit to spend some of their precious time developing leaders beneath them. If you are the CEO, Executive Director or Senior Pastor, then your responsibility is expanded to ensure the organization as a whole spends the appropriate amount of time and resources on developing its leaders – both current and next generation leaders. The CEO is accountable for ensuring the overall leadership development strategy is well-defined and works effectively to achieve its targeted goals. If a leader is not spending time developing other leaders, he or she will have failed in his or her full leadership role. They have also failed the organization that has entrusted them as leaders and failed God who appointed them in the first place. (See earlier post on Appointing Leaders.)

Leaders must develop other people to take their place; to not do so is a sign of self-centeredness, short-term thinking and pride that no one can replace you. It is the prideful leader that believes that no one can replace him as leader. This attitude fosters a reluctance to balanced or calculated risk-taking, a trait that has been well researched as being needed to sustain and grow and organization.  We are ALL replaceable no matter what our position is or how we attained that position.  The prideful attitude is not honoring God.

A planned approach to developing leaders must be a key and top priority among today’s leaders.  The approach must be multi-faceted and must be given months and years to take effect, not days or weeks.  Developing leaders does not happen by sending them to a two or three day seminar.  Moses didn’t send Joshua to attend workshops given by the Hebrew Management Association; he spent a great deal of time with Joshua to provide mentoring, hands-on and experiential training, coaching and feedback. Likewise, Jesus modeled for us that mentoring and developing those who would take His place took several years.

As a leader, do you have a plan to develop those underneath you?  If you do, why not share some of the elements of that plan with us.  If not, let me know and perhaps I can help you develop a plan that will enable you to fulfill one of the most important tasks of being a leader.

Stewardship

Webster defines steward as “a person put in charge of a large estate” or “an administrator, as of finances or property.” Wikipedia suggests that a steward is “a servant who manages property.” Another definition from Wikipedia defines a steward as “a person who manages the property or affairs for another entity.”

Today, with pension plans, 401(K)s and other retirement savings options, we typically turn over the management of those funds to a financial manager. This person is a steward in that they manage money for someone else. The financial manager does not own the assets or the money. They just manage it for someone else, carrying out the owner’s wishes for returns. The financial manager has the responsibility and accountability to safeguard and manage these funds by following particular rules and regulations and for making decisions that are in the best interest of the owner.

Landlords will sometimes hire a building manager who will be responsible for the day-to-day management of their buildings, ensuring that various repairs and maintenance chores are taken care of so the tenants are able to live comfortably. The building manager is not the owner, yet he or she is accountable for managing the asset on behalf of the owner and for making decisions that are in the owner’s best interest.

Even as Christians, we might sometimes forget that God owns everything, and we are merely stewards or managers of what He entrusts to us. Yes, He is the Lord who provides, and sometimes we forget why He provides what He does. Romans 8:28 tells us that all things work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. In this passage, all things include all provisions working together for good. For us to be faithful stewards we must manage what God has provided to us in a manner that achieves His purposes, not ours. We need to put His purposes ahead of ours.

There are people who struggle with the concept of God owning everything. For many of these people, I suspect that they make decisions based on how that decision will impact them or those closest to them. As for stewards, we make decisions based on what we humbly believe God wants us to do for His purposes, not ours. Matthew 6:33 instructs us to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. This means that in all our thoughts, behaviors, actions and decisions, we must put the Kingdom of God first before ourselves.

What can we do to exhibit stewardship?  Let me suggest a few things:
1.    Take time to review your vision and mission to determine if they both honor God and acknowledge that the organization is His.

2.    Develop a ministry plan that is funded and focuses on spreading the Gospel in some way.

3.    Allow time for unhurried quiet time and prayer to determine if the vision, purpose and current key initiatives are appropriate in light of your role as a steward, not an owner.

4.    Take regular and scheduled time to reflect on whether your priorities, both in the organization as well as outside, are aligned with God’s priorities given your role as a steward for what He has given you.

5.    Reflect on the current policies you or your organization practice in terms of treatment of employees. Are they appropriate for a steward of God’s organization? Change what you can so they are in line with what God would expect.

6.    Ensure that each employee under your supervision has a targeted development plan in place designed to maximize the use of the talents God has provided them whether they are Christian or not.

What are some other ideas that you have regarding stewardship?