Leadership
Growing the Father’s Heart
How Leadership and Fatherly Love Go Together
One of my favourite “Leadership” passages in the Bible is when Moses has a massive rant. It’s in Numbers 11:10–15. I quite like the way the Easy-to-Read Version puts it:
“If you plan to continue giving me their troubles, kill me now.”
Moses is feeling pretty bleak. He cannot have the troubles of his people.
He says, “I’m not their dad! Why should I care?” (The Justin Marsh version).
I’ve definitely had those days. Ask poor Mrs Marsh about some of my rants.
- They’re grown adults! Why can’t they do that?
- Don’t they know they’re causing problems?
- I know 8 year-olds with better emotional regulation than them!
- Why is that my responsibility? Other people should be able to do their own jobs!
- If you plan to continue giving me their troubles, kill me now.
It’s nice that I can relate to Moses in such a clear way. (I know Moses had to lead a whole nation and I have a team of about 25 to deal with, but I’m pretty sure my burdens are on the same level.)
But when I was talking with one of my team members, who got themselves in a sticky, and somewhat expensive, situation, I realised that God had called me to be a father to them. Or, at least, he had called me to care for them in the same way that He would, with his Fatherly tenderness and compassion.
So, what does that mean?
- I will have to sort out my teammate’s messes, just as the Father has sorted out mine.
- I will have to address mistakes, sin and heart issues, just as the Father has addressed mine.
- I will have to show that they will always be under grace and that the Father loves and cares for them.
- My care for them cannot be self-seeking, but instead put the interest of the team above mine. This is how the Father put my care above His needs when He sent His Son to die for us.
- I can’t avoid making difficult decisions, just as the Father didn’t avoid Jesus’s death on the cross.
So, how do I do this? It’s by living in my identity as a beloved child of God.
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!
1 John 3:1a
And that is what we are!
We can love like the Father, because he so loved us. And I pray, that as I experience the Father’s love more and more, I can give it out as well.
Originally published at http://asecretmissionary.wordpress.com on May 15, 2024.
