jesus, the leader

This past weekend I was asked who has motivated me most as a leader. I love history. I’m kinda a geek that way. I can tell you my favorite president, my favorite first lady and give good reasoning for both. I’m fascinated by the 1960’s, and Martin Luther King Jr. is definitely a huge person that I look up to, but none of those answers seemed adequate to answer to the question. Jesus. Jesus has motivated me most as a leader. He motivates me. He challenges me. He guides me.

Jesus leads with love. He does so in a way that is so much bigger than saying “I love you”. His actions and demands are motivated by love. He loves us so much that He doesn’t want us to put things above Him (Matthew 10:37). He loves us enough to give us strength enough to do anything (Philippians 4:13). All out of love. His leadership and love are not self-motivated. One of the things I’m learning about myself is that I struggle to lead out of pure love. In my heart, there are often other motivations – obligation or selfishness. Jesus led out of love. He died out of love. His love was enough for His followers.

Jesus knew how to get the best of His followers. The people who loved Jesus when He walked the earth are in some ways not much different from the people who love Jesus now. We’re all broken. We’re all sinners. We all fall short. Jesus knows the key to each of our hearts. He knows have unique the desires of each of our hearts are. He used love and compassion to lead. Jesus had Godly powers – He could have done miracles to motivate people (and when necessary He did use miracles), but He used love and compassion to lead imperfect people.

Jesus guides me, not only because He walked the earth before me, but also because His power is available to me when I depend on Him. Jesus set the blueprint for selfless love – He shows that His love is enough & He gives us all the opportunity to love on people well, when we tap into His power.

I am weak, He is strong. Jesus leads me out of love. I desire to become the type of leader that invests in people selflessly, that shows them how much they are capable of when they depend on Him and that reminds people of the amazing God in heaven who wants their whole hearts. Thankfully, I have Jesus to guide me and communicate to me how to be a better leader.