Jesus’ heart

Jesus Is

“No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son, who is himself God and is in closest relationship with the Father, has made him known.” – John 1:18 The life of Jesus exemplifies perfect theology. What I mean is that if we want a totally accurate depiction of what God is like, we need only look at His Son. When we study how our Savior acted, how He preached, how He ministered, and how He loved people, we learn about the values and priorities of the Lord Himself. Knowing this, we can internalize the heart of our Creator by examining the way He behaved toward people when He was in the flesh. For instance, He was a servant leader — He didn’t go around making others sick to teach them a lesson or harming them to get His point across. He also didn’t use fear, guilt, or

Read More »

A People-First Culture

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” – Mark 10:25 Yesterday, we talked about how having a big vision for our lives and leadership has the potential to empower others. We also looked at how being more devoted to rules and standards than human beings creates a “quack quack” model in our corporate or personal culture and how such a mentality deflates and discourages people. Today, to solidify these concepts, I want to share a story with you. Years ago, pre 9/11, Ken Blanchard, one of the authors of the “Lead Like Jesus” series that we’ve been learning from, was traveling on a Southwest Airlines flight. After unloading his luggage at the curb, he realized he had forgotten his wallet. He figured he would be turning around at that point, but instead,

Read More »

Who Leads and Who Follows?

“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 11:1 For the past two days, we’ve learned that if we want to lead like Jesus, it’s important to consider how we respond to feedback and whether or not we’re planning for our succession. Today, I want to discuss the third and final question we’re wise to ask ourselves in order to assume His heart in leadership, and that is simply — who leads and who follows? While it may sound strange, the only way to effectively influence people to follow us is for us to follow Christ. When we, as believers, devote ourselves to walking in the paths of our Savior, guiding others becomes about encouraging them to follow Him. Whether we’re the head of a household, the CEO of a corporation, the owner of a business, or the overseer of a group of volunteers, our goal

Read More »

How Do You Respond to Feedback?

“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.” – Proverbs 27:17 As we seek to have Jesus’ heart in leading others, it’s important to assess how we’re doing. In fact, one of the best and easiest ways to gauge our progress in this area is to ask ourselves a series of questions. That said, for the next few days, I want to offer three self-probing inquiries we can make as we emulate our Savior in both attitude and action. First of all, how do we respond to feedback? If we’re leading from a place of drive and ambition rather than calling, chances are we’ll react defensively to any hint of scrutiny. On the other hand, if we’re secure in what God has asked us to do, we’ll welcome constructive criticism as a gift. Though doing so demands that we lay our pride down on the altar of sacrifice, we

Read More »

The Sting of Severity

“Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, ‘children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.’ Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.” – Philippians 2:14-16 When Epaphroditus visited the imprisoned Apostle Paul, he had an opportunity to share with his friend, who was also the congregation’s founder, that false teaching had seeped into the doctrine of the church at Philippi. Though they had been schooled in freedom and grace, they were allowing legalism in things like dietary restrictions and mandatory circumcision to penetrate their ranks. Such unfortunate news compelled Paul to address these practices in a letter, and thus we have the book of Philippians. In this famous epistle, the apostle gives guidance to the church about legalism, which is something he could speak on with great

Read More »

Receive your daily eDevotional

Don't miss new updates in your email!