Spiritual Leadership: Principles of Excellence for Every Believer (Sanders Spiritual Growth Series)

we find the ancient prophet Jeremiah giving his servant Baruch some very wise and simple counsel: “Are you seeking great things for yourself? Don’t do it!” (Jeremiah 45:5 NLT). Jeremiah was not condemning all ambition as sinful, but he was pointing to selfish motivation that makes ambition wrong—“great things for yourself.” Desiring to excel is not

“The final estimate of men shows that history cares not an iota for the rank or title a man has borne, or the office he has held, but only the quality of his deeds and the character of his mind and heart.”2

• Are you reasonably optimistic? Pessimism and leadership do not mix. Leaders are positively visionary. • Have you identified a master passion such as that of Paul, who said, “This one thing I do!” Such singleness of motive will focus your energies and powers on the desired objective. Leaders need a strong focus.

• Can you exert discipline without making a power play? Are your corrections or rebukes clear without being destructive? True leadership is an internal quality of the spirit and needs no show of external force.

True greatness, true leadership, is found in giving yourself in service to others, not in coaxing or inducing others to serve you. True service is never without cost. Often it comes with a bitter cup of challenges and a painful baptism of suffering. For genuine godly leadership weighs carefully Jesus’ question: “Can you drink the cup I drink or be