What are some of the first thoughts that come to mind when you reflect on the nature of God?
For me, it’s:
- Kind
- Just
- Loving
- Merciful
- Present
- Faithful
- Sovereign
- Holy
What else comes to your mind?
In the midst of the hustle and bustle of this season, it’s especially good to reflect on the extraordinary nature of God. Who He is and our relationship with Him is at the very core of why we do what we do.
As church leaders, it’s incredibly easy to get so involved in the work of God that we can miss the wonder of God.
So often, it seems, that we focus on what God expects of us because of His holy nature, but what jumps out at me is how much God is a giving God. In the long run, his expectations reflect all that he wants us to have, experience, and enjoy.
(Candidly, I think we sometimes confuse or transpose all that people expect of us with what God expects of us. This is because the emotions connected to expectations are difficult to sort out linearly. You can’t put emotions on a chart. So instead, we feel what we feel. The result is things like feeling overloaded, overwhelmed, and under-resourced. And then one more thing, a little thing, a good thing seems like the final straw.)
God certainly does have expectations of us, but He gives so much more to us than He expects of us. As a leader, that fills us up and helps us keep going!
So, let’s focus for a few minutes on God as a giving God.
5 Extraordinary Gifts From God
1. The Kind of Character We Can Be Proud Of
It’s good that we strive to lead without negative character traits, including ethical or moral shortcomings, but avoiding the negative alone isn’t enough. How can we lead with the kind of character traits we can be proud of?
You are very familiar with this extraordinary gift we call the “fruit of the spirit,” but don’t rush by this list of nine traits too quickly.
- Love
- Joy
- Peace
- Patience
- Kindness
- Goodness
- Faithfulness
- Gentleness
- Self-Control
Can you live all nine of these traits on your own? I can’t!! They’re a gift of God that, if we embrace them, our leadership is profoundly changed. (See Galatians 5:22)
