willpower. Paul also isn’t advocating a solo effort apart from community. He’s calling for Timothy to take personal responsibility for his development and to engage in an intentional systematic approach empowered by God’s grace and with the support of community.
Every Christ-follower and Christian leader needs to take responsibility to partner with God in his or her growth, development and transformation. Taking this role seriously is incredibly important, but we need to take it on by God’s grace and with God’s strength.
Before we move on to exploring eight key practices for leading yourself, it’s critical that you don’t miss the starting place. The starting place is King David’s prayer.
You might expect that David’s resume would produce some swagger, pride and independence. Instead, we find one of the great prayers in Scripture. It’s found in the psalms—twice, in case we might miss it. Here’s the prayer: “But as for me, I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; LORD, do not delay” (Psalm 70:5).
When I read this passage, I see three prerequisites for effectively leading myself. The first is humility. David firmly proclaims that he is not a self-made man. Instead, he is both poor and needy. He’s a man who desperately needs God’s help. The second prerequisite is dependence. David acknowledges that, above all things, God is his help and his deliverer. He chooses to depend on God rather than his own limited strength. The third is trust. David chooses to trust in God. He not only declares God as his help and deliverer, but he trusts in God’s coming provision.
In contrast, it’s very interesting to look at Saul’s posture. His posture is exactly the opposite of David’s. Rather than a posture of humility, Saul exudes entitlement. He believes he should be king no matter what. Rather than dependence, Saul tries to independently maintain his reign by attempting to kill David and by being disobedient to God’s instructions concerning the Amalekites. Rather than trust, fearfulness is the driving force in Saul’s life. This is demonstrated in his paranoia toward David as well as his frantic and at times bizarre attempts to take matters into his own hands.
David’s prayer and posture of humility, dependence and trust are the starting place for getting traction on leading ourselves well. We simply can’t manufacture any significant or lasting change on our own.
As we look at humility as a starting point for personal leadership, it’s interesting to read Jim Collins’ work for his groundbreaking book Good to Great. He reviewed 1,435 Fortune 500 companies and identified just 11 that achieved sustained greatness, with stock returns at least three times the market’s for fifteen years after a major transition period. One common factor for each of these 11 companies was their top leader. Each company had what Collins’ calls a “level 5” leader. One of the two core characteristics of a level 5 leader is deep personal humility. In contrast, Collins’ notes in two-thirds of the comparison companies “the presence of a gargantuan ego that contributed to the demise or continued demise of the company.”4
Though some would see David’s posture of humility as weakness, it’s actually a strength in God’s economy. It invites and depends on God rather than self. It brings freedom rather than a burden that is impossible to carry.
Reflection Questions
1.Leading yourself isn’t easy. What are your greatest challenges in leading yourself?
2.Consider the following three continuums. The right side represents David’s humility, trust and dependence. The left side represents Saul’s pride, fear and independence. Mark yourself on each of the three continuums. What steps do you need to take to move more to the right?
As you begin this journey of Leading Me, I encourage you to pray King David’s prayer: “But as for me, I am poor and needy; come quickly to me, O God. You are my help and my deliverer; LORD, do not delay” (Psalm 70:5).
Chapter 2—A Dashboard for Life
Imagine that you are already several minutes late as you head to your car. You quickly get settled into the driver’s seat, turn the key to start the engine and then shift gears to begin backing up. It’s then, from the corner of your eye, that you notice. The low-fuel light is on. You now have a decision to make. You could heed this silent but clear warning and take the time to stop for gas. Or, you could choose to temporarily ignore the warning and test the limits of your gas tank’s capacity.
Your car’s dashboard is a tremendously helpful tool. When you are driving down the highway, you can’t pop the hood and check over the engine. You can’t see inside your fuel tank from the driver’s seat. Even when parked in your driveway, the complex mix of hundreds of parts, multiple computers, various fluids and pressures are overwhelming to most people. The dashboard solves this problem.
The dashboard identifies the key functions and provides a simple overview at a glance. These few gauges can give you a fairly clear and objective overview of the car’s operating condition. Then, whatever your mechanical aptitude, you can have a more objective level of confidence or concern as you drive. If a yellow or red warning light comes on the dashboard, you can make a choice. One choice is to cover it over with duct tape and ignore it. Another choice is to take action to investigate and rectify the potential problem.
The simple concept of a car dashboard can also be applied to your life. By identifying some key indicators of health, a dashboard of gauges can be created to provide a simple, objective system of feedback. While not scientific, a dashboard can be a simple way to keep on track and to watch for emerging problems. It provides helpful feedback and perspective in the midst of everyday life. If you are a Christian leader operating at high speeds with limited feedback and time for reflection, a dashboard can be a particularly helpful tool for leading yourself.
There are many possible dashboard gauges for the Christian life, but there are four specific gauges that emerge as repeated themes from the life of Jesus and throughout Scripture. These four gauges provide a practical tool for self-evaluation, but they also paint a clear target of God’s intention for our lives.
Gauge #1—Spiritual Intimacy
In Mark 1:9–11 we are given a beautiful snapshot. It’s the story of Jesus’ baptism. It provides a unique window into the precious intimacy that Jesus shared with his heavenly Father and the Holy Spirit. Jesus was being baptized by John the Baptist, and as he came up out of the water, “he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove” (Mark 1:10). Then, Jesus heard these words from his father in heaven: “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Mark 1:11).
It’s critical to note that these public words were shared before Jesus began his ministry or accomplished anything. These words were publicly shared to reinforce Jesus’ primary identity, position and value as God’s deeply loved son.
These very clear, personal and encouraging words also highlight the intimate relationship between Jesus and his Father. As Arrow Leadership’s founder Leighton Ford writes, “Like the patriarchs and prophets in the days of old, he (Jesus) was hearing a call. Yet Jesus’ call was completely different because it was the affirmation of a special intimacy and identity with God. He and his Father were one—one in nature, in love and in purpose.”1
The same can be said of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They, too, were one—in nature, in love and in purpose. The description of the Holy Spirit descending on Jesus is a vivid reminder that Jesus’ life was lived
