Bible Students

Thoughts on “Lead” by Tripp (Chapters 4-6)

This week’s reading covered chapters four, five, and six. These three chapters covered the topics of “Balance,” “Character,” and “War.” This book has been very convicting so far, and does not fail to provide strong conviction in this section. All three of these chapters translate directly into the work I do in the kitchen, so I reflect on them with thankfulness. 

Chapter four’s topic was balance. Leaders must learn to balance the many callings of their life if they are to be faithful. In other words, leaders can not overemphasize one calling to the death of all the others! I have read this before many times: Do not let ministry be a mistress. The importance of balancing your callings could not be understated! God made everything at balance in the beginning with peace. However now the world groans for a redeemer due to its imbalance and chaos. Imbalance in the believer is the result of idolatry. This occurs when the believer places something (a calling) in a place it should not be (another calling) and sacrifices more than they should for this thing. For example, this can look like placing my church ministry over my marriage, even though it should be the other way around. In my life right now, I am learning to balance personal devotions, rest, friendships, my girlfriend, a full-time job, and full-time school. Whether or not I can believe it now, I do not believe this will even come close to the difficulty of balancing the work of church planting. If I am to have a healthy spiritual, physical, and marital life, let alone a healthy job or ministry, I must learn the delicate art of balancing and giving priorities what they are due. 

Chapter five covers character. Personally, I believe this is the most important part of being a leader, and I believe the biblical data lines up with this belief. Character is far more important than any strategy or structure. This is true even on a practical level, if a person knows how to run a business but is generally untrustworthy, that person should not be hired. Often, however, I believe this is overlooked. Satan lurks on the battlefield always ready to grab someone and take them down. Leaders must be on the look-out for this, as God values character above all other traits of leadership. Do not stop holding people accountable because they are gifted. Gifted leaders especially need accountability. Christ’s humility blows away all false humility. Even though character is the most important thing, moral failure is not the end of the line, as will be discussed in a later reflection. As I go into ministry, I must remember that my own character and the character of those I go alongside with is far more important than their abilities. 

The sixth chapter discusses war. Every ministry is full of spiritual warfare. Attacks will be made against those in ministry in all ways. Leaders must be aware of the war on leadership by spiritual darkness. Leaders lead, and so spiritual forces want to attack leaders in order to lead followers astray. In all things, we must put on the armor of God, especially for the work of ministry. I should not surround myself with people who will only compliment me, but instead with people who will tell me where I am falling short. God’s warnings are always loving tools. Spiritual warfare should be talked about as a corporation or church often. Ministry is full of temptations, especially the temptation to make a name for myself. 

In summary, these three chapters spoke to my place of ministry by reminding me of the importance of pushing away the temptations of idolatry, a lack of character, and spiritual laziness. Those things are destroyers of ministries.