Healthy Leaders | Issue 18
Building oaks vs. cabbages, fearing God as a basis for worship, and resilience in the face of 2024. Plus: proverbs for a new year.
Welcome to Issue 18 of Healthy Leaders.
In this issue ‒ Building oaks vs. cabbages, fearing God as a basis for worship, and resilience in the face of 2024. Plus: proverbs for a new year. Let’s dive in.
8 Nuggets of Wisdom from My Mentors When You Can’t Figure Out God’s Will
It’s the beginning of a new year! Now that we’ve gotten past the leftover stress of the holidays, we could all use a bit of guidance regarding what God has for us in 2024. Chuck Lawless offers us an octet of tested wisdom in that regard, starting with the admonition to avoid putting fences around our commitments to God: “As long as we put parameters on what we’ll do for God, we’re not really seeking His will.”
Here’s a few of my favorites:
“Pray and think much before making a move during a storm.” If you make a life-changing decision during the chaos of a storm, you might regret the move when the sky’s cleared up a bit.
“Don’t assume that your heart can’t be biased.” None of us can fully read his or her heart without the potential of bias. Even the most committed believers can be unexpectedly captured by self-interest.
“Be careful about trusting ‘open doors’ and ‘closed doors.’” An open door may be an indication of God’s intention, but it’s also possible to manipulate doors at times. On the other hand, a closed door may be a matter of God’s timing rather than His clear denial.
In the vein of beginning the year with wisdom, we would all do well to heed Proverbs 16:9, which reminds us that “The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps.”
You’re Building Oaks, Not Cabbages: Building Leaders Takes Time
Here’s Dr. Malcolm Webber with one resolution we can all make this year: be a little more patient with the leaders we build, and with our own growth as leaders!
“With a good foundation, a wonderful building can be built.
Thus, our goal should not be final and complete maturity, but the laying of a sound and comprehensive foundation in the life of the emerging leader.
Our goal should be breadth of learning as well as depth of heart penetration. We should not try to build up but to build deep and wide.
We should not attempt to produce mastery of every concept but rather broad exposure to a number of ideas and subjects.
Our purpose should be to teach the emerging leaders to pray, to get them connected to God in reality, and to impart passion of vision, zeal of heart, and a willingness to suffer.”
Or, as the ancient Chinese proverb says: “If you are planting for a year, plant grain. If you are planting for a decade, plant trees. If you are planting for a century, plant people.”
On Fearing the One for Whom You Live
Building our lives in Christ this year (as in every year) will require a holy fear of Him – and not just a fear of what life would be like without Him, but a positive fear of God that leads to worship and intimacy. Douglas Allison at Living to God digs into this, spring boarding from Revelation 19:5, “And from the throne came a voice saying, “Praise our God, all you his servants, you who fear him, small and great.”
“The fear of God is not marked by a scared distance from him but by honor-filled proximity to him. This brings us back to our passage in Revelation with which we began. It is not that all people everywhere are commanded to praise him. We see commands for all people everywhere to worship God in places such as the Psalms. But here we see something different. There is a condition placed on those who would praise God. It is that the people who praise God should be people who fear God.
So here notice again the connection between the fear of God and the worship of God. It does not matter whether you are small or great. If you fear God, praise him. The fear of God is something that ought to drive us to worship him. Thus, the fear of God is not a phobia we desire to avoid, but a reverence that drives us to our knees, but as close to God as possible. The fear of God does not detract from living for God; the fear of God grounds living for God.”
If you’d like to build your fear of God, we have a holistic design for you here:
It All Holds True
Maybe some of you reading today are looking at the year ahead and seeing, not promise, but burdens and worries. Glenna Marshall has a good word for those of us in that space: resilience. In this piece, she discusses what true resilience looks like, in light of her son’s recovery from spinal fusion surgery. Hint: it’s not based on mountaintop experiences, but on unremarkable, daily obedience.
“…While my son has shown himself to have a layer of resilience I didn’t know he possessed, I also know that this tenacious faith in the Lord to sustain him in physical suffering didn’t just materialize out of nowhere. No, it was planted, watered, grown. The Spirit has been at work in him. Just like He is in me or you or anyone who is walking with Christ. Age is just a number. It isn’t an accurate reflection of how deep or how personal someone’s relationship with Jesus might be. What I’m saying is that I was surprised to see the Lord take years and years of unremarkable discipleship and teaching and church-going and praying—and He showed us that it all proves true. God really does sustain. Jesus really is with us. Faith really does grow with time. Scripture really is true. The Spirit really does sanctify. Your heart really is safe in the Father’s hand. His Word really doesn’t return void. Your kids really are listening when you’re sure they’re not. God really does answer prayers.”
Sweetness of Speech
And to close us out, here’s
with one last proverb (Proverbs 16:21, to be exact) upholding winsome speech as a worthy standard for all of our interactions with others this year.“According to biblical anatomy, your tongue is connected to your heart. When you are wise of heart, that inner disposition will affect how you speak. A wise heart is shaped by God’s words and will overflow with wise words. The wise are called “discerning” by others, because the wise of heart don’t stay hidden. Their wisdom becomes evident to those around them.
A goal for the wise of heart is to guide others into wisdom. Winsomeness is about something being attractive, alluring, presentable, and the wise want biblical wisdom to be compelling, appealing, desirable. Biblical wisdom is not stale or uninteresting. Quite the opposite! Biblical wisdom is life-giving and life-changing.
Solomon uses the phrase “sweetness of speech.” What matters is not just what we say but how we say it. The beauty of truth is worthy of thoughtful presentation and defense. We’re handling holy things from Scripture with our words.”
That’s all for this one, friends. If you found something encouraging in this letter, share it with a friend. If you’ve found something encouraging outside of this letter, send it our way. We love to share what our leaders love.
Until next time, we’re with you!
— Chris