The Making of a Biblical Leader: 10 Principles for Leading Others Wellნიმუში

A Leader Is: Focused

David Guzik

In seasons of crisis and conflict, leaders need to trust Jesus.

We need to look to and rely on Him for the kind of courage and focus that Jesus Himself displayed. It can be said that there are two kinds of courage. There is a courage expressed in the moment, which requires no previous thought. This is the kind of instinctive reaction that jumps between a child and danger. This is true courage, but it isn’t planned. It is displayed immediately in the necessary moment.

There is also what might be called planned courage, which sees the difficulty ahead and steadfastly marches toward it. This describes the great courage that sent Jesus to Jerusalem, then to the upper room, then to Gethsemane, then to His several trials and beatings, and finally to the cross. Jesus knew perfectly well what was in front of Him, and He had told His disciples many times of the cross that was waiting for Him. As Jesus looked out on the horizon, He could see the great suffering and agony He would endure. Nevertheless, Jesus “steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem” (Luke 9:51 NKJV).

Christian leaders who must lead in a difficult season face a difficulty of focus. They worry about who is for them and who is against them, and what they can do to the people who are against them. That wasn’t the focus Jesus had. Jesus was determined to go to Jerusalem and lay down His life as a sacrifice for lost humanity.

With God helping you, don’t have the wrong focus during a season of crisis. Your focus shouldn’t be damage control, self-defense, political manipulation, or getting even. If any of those things become your focus, and you abandon your determination to obey God and sacrificially love His people and a needy world, then darkness wins the day.

If other people don’t share in your focus, they won’t understand what you are doing in having a determined face.

You will be tempted to think the battle is with the conflict in front of you: who is going to win, who is going to lose. But the real battle is to see whether a Christian leader can be distracted from doing what is right before God and good for God’s people.

If you lose focus, you have lost the battle in your season of crisis. As a principled Christian leader, you should never compromise with error, especially when that error causes harm to the people of God. It’s easy to bend to the desires of the powerful and to beg for the favor of the well-known. Yet pleasing other people should never be the focus of a Christian leader, especially in a time of crisis. We should never hope to gain or keep favor with others at the expense of biblical truth, godly character, and simple justice.

It is fair to say that God is focused and determined as He works in the life of a believer. God persistently works toward the goal of conforming His people into the image of Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). Every believer can be glad that God doesn’t lose His focus, and that He is determined to finish what He has started in the believer (Philippians 1:6). As we follow God’s pattern, we will serve as leaders who don’t lose focus and are determined to complete the work God gives to us.