A Leader’s Mission

My 4-year-old daughter received a Bible for Easter. It’s princess-pink and she loves ti. Every night she asks me to read her a story. Right now we are reading Proverbs.

The kids got a “Bible Heroes” movie for Easter as well. Emily loves the story of Esther, the girl who became queen. So, of course, we read the book of Esther in her princess Bible. This past weekend we watched Dreamworks’ version of Joseph, the King of Dreams. At the end of the movie, I had big tears running down my face. I had a huge revelation. They say that education is when you are in control and revelation is when God is in control. I’ll explain.

As I read these stories to Emily and Matthew and watch the movies with them, I find the pattern that repeats in the leaders of the Old Testament: Joseph, Moses, Joshua, Esther.

The person is in a critical, sometimes life-threatening situation.
They do not feel qualified at all for the task at hand and they are unlikely candidates to accomplish it.
God asks them to do the impossible in a foreign land or an adverse environment.
They are put in a position to do something that their people cannot do on their own.
God blesses them and helps them succeed beyond their wildest dreams.

Back to the tears running down my face. I suddenly felt overcome with emotion when I realized the main reason why God protected these men and women’s lives and placed them in leadership: to act on his behalf and set his people free. I know this is not breaking news, but to me, it all came together crystal clear. They were appointed directly to lead an oppressed nation into freedom and help the oppressor change. It is the same reason you and I have been asked to lead.

You may not feel all that smart, outgoing or brave. You may not think that you have much to offer or that you should be telling people what to do. However, you have the gifts. Use them.

You are being asked in some way to lead God’s people. That is the heart of your mission. God told Joshua “Be strong and steadfast” multiple times. He is telling you the same today.

What gifts are you going to use to lead God’s people today?

6 responses to “A Leader’s Mission”

I hope I can lead people through kindness and being a good example. I’d like to think that my blogging is helping in some ultra-minute sense.

Awesome post Lily!

lilykreitinger May 7, 2013 at 12:51 pm · ·

Thanks! That’s what Joseph said too. I hope that by saving 20% of our crops for seven years to prepare for the sick-cows years I’ll be helping in an ultra-minute sense.