Bible Students

This week’s reading went over the first four chapters of A Work of Heart. This reading discussed the leadership development of four biblical leaders: Moses, David, Paul, and Jesus. Chapter one discussed Moses. Moses’ life was providentially provided for by God. The ups and the downs were brought about by God’s ultimate purposes. There have definitely been difficult downs in the last two years of college. There were many seasons of difficult pain, and many stretching times. However, looking back even now I can see the preparation that God was giving me for ministry. Moses’ desert exile was not his final chapter, but was a time of growing. God helped Moses grow in his leadership by giving his flocks to lead. He was given one talent, and was faithful, and was then given more. I do not work at a church, but reflecting on the preparation God gave to Moses even in his exile, I can be sure that God is growing me for the purpose of ministry even now. The final very important part of the Moses section was that Moses brought his concerns to God. He brought his insecurities and took with him as a shield his experiences with God. When Moses went up against the most powerful man in the land, he must have meditated on the burning bush episode. On the mission field, I am not fighting rulers. I am going to war with spiritual powers. I will not win by my own strength, but by depending on God, bringing my insecurities to Him, and dwelling on my time with Him. 

Chapter two discussed David, the king of Israel. Similarly to Moses, but in a much more active way, David depended on his anointing by God through Samuel, was grown through his wilderness experiences, and brought his insecurities to God. The anointing my Samuel and the Goliath episodes were markers in the life of David for God’s annointing. David held tightly to this anointing. I ran from the idea of ministry for a few years. However, now that I am sure being faithful right now means pursuing vocational ministry, I need to hold on to that conviction and push forward even when times are hard and “Saul” is chasing after me. David’s wilderness experiences taught him a deeper dependence on the Lord compared to Moses. While Moses likely learned contentment in his wilderness exile, David learned to depend on the Lord for survival. Though I hate the idea of it (similarly to running from the idea of ministry as a whole), there may be a time when I must depend constantly on the Lord in a much more intimate way for survival. Even if I am not constantly in life or death situations, I must be willing to bring myself to God. He is closer than I am to my body, but He waits for me to respond to Him. I need to learn to bring my deepest insecurities if I am to be empowered by the Spirit to help others with their insecurities. 

The third chapter is all about Paul. Paul was a cross-cultural missionary. His background of multiple cultures was fully taken advantage of, and it was by God’s grace that he had that background to begin with. Paul had every reason to be arrogant and self-righteous, and yet he laid down his impressive achievements to love filthy gentiles. Leadership is not a competition of holiness, but is rather a “competition” of humility. Not a competition by the world’s way, but by God’s way. The two important things I took from this were that God can and will use my background for cross-cultural and local gospel communication, and whatever achievements I may attain to do not matter at the foot of the cross. All that matters is the humility and faithfulness shown to Jesus. 

The final chapter is reserved for Jesus Himself. There are a plethora of tips for leadership in this chapter. Here are a few: Jesus did His ministry in community. Jesus as a leader established the rules of truth acting in love. Jesus allowed people to propose ideas without being shamed. The disciples had been taught to look in, not out, and Jesus corrected that. Jesus spent a lot of time with others.

Likely the biggest takeaway from the section on Jesus is the reflection on the first thirty years of Jesus’ life. He was not doing public ministry, but was learning the Word of His Father (which He used to combat the Devil) and other spiritual disciplines. No matter where God has me, I can always be doing those things. I can always be reading the Bible, learning to love Him more, and learning to love others more. If I am willing, the Lord will always grow me, regardless of the season. I can always be growing closer to Him.