Patterns and Principles – Part 9

but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children. 1 Thessalonians 2:7

Commanders: Commanders were created to understand power and leadership, to know how it works, and feel a natural pull towards it. If this describes you, an image of strength is important to you. You have a need to lead. Opposition actually energizes you. Winston Churchill was a commander easily bored by agreement, and whose greatest moments were inspired by opposition. He had a running battle with Lady Nancy Astor, who once said to him, ‘Winston, if you were my husband, I’d poison your tea.’ To which Churchill famously replied, ‘Nancy, if I were your husband, I’d drink it!’ When Adolph Hitler came to power in Germany, Churchill found the formidable enemy he’d been waiting for his whole life. And he rose to the challenge. Without good leadership nothing gets accomplished. But power can become an end in itself, and you can become frustrated when you’re not getting your own way. Indeed, other people may feel intimidated about speaking up when they don’t agree with you. And when that happens you may have compliance, but you don’t have love, loyalty, or respect. God help a leader who has no leader, and those who follow him or her! Responsibility without accountability produces instability. Only when you surround yourself with people who have 20/20 vision to compensate for your blind spots, can you see your tendency to use people and employ fear and intimidation to get your own way. Paul, a great leader, wrote, ‘We were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her children.’ When it comes to great leadership, there are two words that go hand in hand – ‘gentleness’ and ‘greatness’.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, help me to be more gentle and understanding so as not to run over people. In Jesus’ Name, Amen