Encouraging Leadership

I once had a dog that enjoyed taking me on walks. At least, that’s how it seemed to me. As soon as she saw the leash she got excited. When I snapped on the leash she would drag me to the door and around the block. I derived the most exercise from holding her back. Things got especially exciting whenever she saw a squirrel.

No matter how hard she pulled I still had control of the leash. Sometimes I had to pull up and shorten it to remind her of my control, when she wanted to go the wrong way. Other times I could give her more freedom as long as she was going the right way.

God leads us like that. He gives us freedom but makes the limitations clear. Sometimes, when we get too far from Him we get ourselves in trouble. At other times we feel Him pull us back just in time to save us from something bad. We can choose to go our own way but we have to understand that means we remove ourselves from His wisdom and protection.

Jesus taught us to pray, “And lead us not into temptation…” (Matthew 6:13). We desire and need God to lead us. We also need to understand that we choose to submit to his leadership. We have to ask God to lead us. He does not force Himself or His direction on us.

The Lord’s Prayer reminds us that we are not doing this alone. Jesus did not teach us to pray, “Lead me,” rather we are to pray, “Lead us.” We are in this together as fellow travelers on the road. We face the same difficulties and need each other’s prayer and encouragement. We therefore need to pray for God to lead us together.

In the Lord’s Prayer is also a reminder of the consequences of ignoring His direction. Temptation is always there to snare the careless traveler. Everywhere we turn there are spiritual squirrels to catch our attention and lead us away from the things of God. We can get lost in temptation if we are not careful.

Our relationship with God is an active relationship that requires us to take an active role. God will lead us and He has a perfect plan for us. We must ask for His leadership and continue to follow His direction. Sometimes it is easy and sometimes it is hard. But it is always worth it.

Bro. Robin

Yes!

I was waiting in the lobby of a church I had pastored many years ago. A former deacon walked up to me. We were the only two people in the room at the time. He seemed a little nervous as we spoke and then said to me, "I owe you an apology, I said and did a lot of things against you when you were our pastor and I want you to know I'm sorry."

I was caught a little off guard, at first. To be honest, I could not remember specifically what he had done. I had forgiven him a long time ago. I stumbled a little over my words.

"Thank you," I said, "I appreciate you saying that. I forgave you already. I know it took a lot for you to say that. Thank you."

"I just felt like I needed to say it," he said. We continued to talk, more freely now, it seemed. It was like an invisible wall had been lifted between us.

There was another side to that story that I did not go into with him. He was a part of a group that had made life difficult for me over a period of years. In spite of their efforts we saw many successes in that church. Much later, I found myself needing to talk about it with a close friend who was not associated with that church. I tried to not be too critical and to focus on the lessons I had learned. I did not realize how much I continued to talk about it until one day he turned to me and said, “They must have really hurt you.” I had not admitted it before, but yes, they had. Admitting the pain that caused me to want to talk about it seemed to lift the burden. I was finally able to truly forgive them and felt a huge burden lift from my shoulders. When I finally faced the pain I felt such a difference that I knew something had truly changed in my heart.

When my children were small I got tired of listening to tattling and made a new house rule. “If what you want to tell me begins with someone else’s name I don’t want to hear it.” That did not apply to emergencies, of course. But, it did slow down the tattling.

God has a similar rule but words it a little differently. In the Lord’s Prayer he taught us to pray, “Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.” (Matthew 6:12) Or, to rephrase it, “Forgive what we owe you as we forgive all those who owe us something.” Forgiveness was so important to Jesus that he repeated it at the end of the Prayer, (Matthew 6:14-15). His forgiveness is conditioned on our forgiveness.

What was it that kept me from forgiving them before? In a word my problem was pride. Pride is a sin that attaches itself to other problems and makes them worse. I was unable to truly forgive because of pride, even though I said the words before and thought at the time I was sincere. Pride can keep us from forgiving and accepting the forgiveness of others. Pride can cause us to keep making the same mistakes over and over. After all, we always think the problem is them not us! That is the essence of pride. In my situation I would not allow myself to admit that they hurt me. Admitting the pain seemed like a defeat. However, when I turned loose of my pride and finally admitted it, it turned into a victory. Forgiveness is the prayer God always answers, “Yes!”

Bro. Robin