LEADERS ARE PLANNERSmore, nothing less. As the songwriter expressed it: “To will with Him one
perfect will...” A wise leader is always open and obedient to God making a
revision of his vision. He always wants his plans to conform to God’s plans.
Authentic Christian leaders want their earthly plans to be a reflection and
incarnation of God’s sovereign plans that are eternally settled in heaven
- and will therefore one day be firmly established on earth.
Principle:
Spiritual leaders are always Biblical planners
who allow God’s Spirit and God’s Word to refi ne and
make continuous revisions of their vision.As we saw at the beginning of this study on leadership, a leader’s chief
concern is to help people fulfill God’s plan for their lives – which will
always be for their good and God’s glory. It must be a plan that helps people
make progress toward their potential. Leaders must plan from an eternal
perspective. Spiritual leaders are not so much concerned about the short-
term happiness of their followers – as for their long-range holiness. They
have learned from their own experience that happiness is a by-product of
holiness. When people seek happiness, they seldom find it – except in
fleeting illusive dosages. But when they seek holiness of heart and life
through obedience to God, true happiness abounds! Holiness is the root,
while happiness is the fruit. That kind of spiritual, mental and emotional
change totally shifts the axis of one’s life from self to God. This radical
shift from self to God doesn’t happen quickly, easily, or painlessly! This
kind of radical transformational change of our nature takes time – and
often lots of it. When working with people, leaders must plan with the
“long haul” in mind. Without this long-range perspective, their plans
will be naïve and unrealistic – and they will produce frustration and
disappointment when there are no “quick results.” In addition, their
followers will become disillusioned when there is no immediate “quick
fix” for their problems. Both the leader and the follower must not plan as
sprinters on a brief hundred-yard dash – but as long-distance runners who
are on a life-long marathon! When both the leader and the follower plan
with this view in mind, they will be like the Apostle Paul, and “...finish
the race” (II Tim. 4:7).