Godly Leadership Requires Active Love

Photo by Kiana Bosman on Unsplash

Not too long ago, I was in prayer, anxiously recounting all of the ways I feel like I’ve failed as a leader. Have you ever had a prayer time like this? As I was listing all of my mistakes before God, I heard Him speak to me a profound phrase that settled my soul. In the middle of my pity party, he spoke, 

“Lead by following me”

God spoke to the depths of my insecurities and weaknesses and opened my eyes to a better way of leading; a way of love and humility. This simple phrase shifted my perspective of Godly leadership. This kind of leadership is dependent on who and how I choose to love most. The Lord’s invitation confronted my fleshly tendency to care about resumes and reputations more than loving and leading in the image of God. He was inviting me to compare the fruit of my labor to the fruit of the Spirit, rather than a worldly standard. 

The questions God asked me that day, and every day since are: 

Are you willing to actively love me and my people? 

Will you submit your leadership to my leadership?

My hope today is to invite you into the same reflection of what it means to be a Spirit-led leader. 

What does it mean to actively love God and His people?

God’s very nature is active. He spoke and there was light. He breathed into dust and human life was formed. He instructed man and woman to be fruitful and multiply. He clothed Adam and Eve when they came to know shame. He included himself in the process and fulfillment of redemption through Jesus. Jesus perfectly demonstrated this active love from conception to resurrection and every moment in between. There was nothing passive about His sacrifices, which are all prompted by His loving nature. 

Having this active love of God, as seen in 1 Corinthians 13, is a necessary component of the Christian life and Godly leadership. If we do not have or act in His love, we are nothing. The way Paul defines love is with actionable characteristics. People of love are patient and kind. We are not to be envious or boastful, there should be no aroma of arrogance or rude reactions. People of love do not insist on their own way; we are not irritable or resentful. We are to rejoice in truth. People of love actively bear, believe, hope, and endure all things. These characteristics require action or resistance, and they are a direct result of our proximity to God. 

In John 21, Jesus asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” Peter responded each time with a resounding, “Yes!” After establishing this foundation of love, Jesus invites Peter to tend to his sheep and follow him. In this passage, the distinction is made that loving God’s people is the response to loving God himself. Peter’s affections are correctly ordered in this scripture, which empowers him to feed the sheep well. It seems that the mark of a Godly leader here is Peter’s love for Jesus and his willingness to follow him, even to the point of death. This is the very essence of the first two commandments, along with Jesus’ call to discipleship. To lead well is to love how Jesus instructs us to.

And what does it mean to submit to God’s leadership?

Trusting that God’s leadership is better than ours requires us to die daily, laying our pride to rest. It is one of the most beautiful and simultaneously difficult things to humble ourselves to God’s leadership. I recently was reading Psalm 23, a passage I turn to frequently, and I realized that the language is present tense. 

The Lord is my Shepherd

He makes me lie down

He leads me beside still waters

And so on…

God is, and always has been, the Good Shepherd. This scripture encouraged me because if it is true that He is shepherding, leading, comforting, preparing, anointing, etc. that means we can follow Him without fear. It means that we can bring our failures before Him, trusting in His goodness rather than our fleshly strength. We fail as leaders when we choose to partner with passivity in our spiritual lives, refuse to love God or others, deny that God is the true shepherd, or ignore the Spirit’s leading. By picking up our crosses and following Him, we make room for Him to come and lead through us. It is His Spirit that cultivates the Godly leader characteristics within us, and it is His spirit that guides us into all truth. Rather than trying to create our own leadership techniques and tricks, we can submit to the leader who made himself low before us.

Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the perfect shepherd of our souls, led by being gentle and lowly, and submitting Himself to the Father’s will. If that is the way Jesus led, we should surely try to follow in those footsteps. By making ourselves low before Christ, pouring out our love on him, casting our crowns at His feet, and waiting for His instruction, we become the kind of leader our King was and is. To be a Spirit-led leader is to literally set aside our own idea of leadership and submit to the leading of the Spirit. Or as Jesus put it, “Not my will, but yours, be done.” 

Lord, I long to lead by following you. 

Create in my heart affections that are correctly ordered. 

Rid me of any passivity in my spiritual life. 

Show me how to love you and your people well. 

May my leadership bear the fruit of your Spirit. 

Make me low that I may be attuned to your Lordship.

You are the Good Shepherd.

Not my will, but yours, be done.