Noble Ambition

A young Abraham Lincoln once said: “Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition. . . I have no other so great as that of being truly esteemed by my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem. How far I shall succeed in gratifying this ambition, is yet to be developed.” Despite Lincoln’s humble upbringing, he wanted his life to make a difference and to somehow enhance peoples’ lives. Such a noble ambition would be put to the test during his nations’ most fiery ordeal during the Civil War. Lincoln would successfully meet the challenges he faced and his countrymen would ultimately venerate him for his supreme contribution to his nation. While some of us might feel awkward that we, too, wanted to do accomplish something with our lives that would properly earn us the esteem of others, I suspect most of us would like to believe our lives somehow made our world a better place. In Christian circles we tend to shun any form of ambition, especially in the realm of God’s kingdom (after all, remember James and John?). Yet is it wrong to want your life to make a difference?

Spiritual leadership is about God using your life to make a difference for His kingdom. Spiritual leadership is not just for pastors and missionaries. God is seeking to raise up spiritual leaders in every arena of life. Our ministry is being inundated with requests from people around the world asking us to help them know how to be spiritual leaders. Much of my time these days is spent equipping Christian business people to be prepared to be on mission with God in the marketplace. Interestingly, I am aware of a group of state congressmen and senators who are studying the book Spiritual Leadership so that biblical principles can inform the way they govern. Later this month my brother Tom and I will be training Christian leaders from across Africa on how to be spiritual leaders. Certainly parenthood may well be the greatest leadership role you will ever hold.

Spiritual leadership is about moving people, by God’s strength, from where they are to where God wants them to be. It means that people are never the same after having been around you. It means your life made a difference.

I love the story of Joshua. My father and I wrote a book about how God raised Joshua up out of slavery to make him a powerful spiritual leader. Joshua was someone who could see in a tangible way that God had had used his life to bless God’s people. When Joshua began his role as God’s servant, his people were wandering aimlessly in a wilderness. When God had finished His work through Joshua, the people were comfortably settled in the Promised Land. When Joshua began, God’s people faced numerous intimidating enemies in walled cities. At the close of Joshua’s life, God’s people inhabited those once feared cities and their enemies had been defeated. Joshua must have taken great satisfaction in knowing that God had used his life to make such a difference in the lives of His people.

Spiritual leadership is not a position. Just because you are a pastor or a missionary or a church planter does not make you a spiritual leader. Spiritual leadership is an activity. It is moving people from where they are to where God wants them to be. I often hear pastors complain that they had to leave their church because their people would not follow their leadership. I don’t want to minimize the difficult situations some leaders find themselves in, but genuine leaders are people who ultimately inspire others to get up from where they are and to move to the place God wants them to be. For true spiritual leaders, anything less is unsatisfactory.

Many of you know that this past month my father endured an extremely painful bout of pancreatitis. I had never seen him so sick or weak. Our family was overwhelmed by the flood of prayers, letters, calls and visits from so many people from around the world. Many told us their story of how God had used my father to minister to them. Numerous people explained how their lives would never be the same after God used my father to minister to them. I was privileged to catch a glimpse of what a life that truly makes a difference looks like. I pray that God would be pleased to use my life to bless His kingdom as well. I hope that is your prayer also.

Reading

Recently I have been reading, The People’s Tycoon: Henry Ford and the American Century. It is fascinating to read how someone who sought to make automobiles accessible to the common person was able to achieve so much. I have asked myself what Henry Fords in God’s kingdom would look like. I also just picked up, Robert Chapman: A Biography. I was intrigued by the quote from Charles Spurgeon who said, “Robert Chapman was the saintliest man I ever knew.” That’s a pretty strong endorsement!

Thanks for your prayers for my father this past month and for our ministry. God is doing awesome things right now and we attribute much of it to your prayers.

Posted by Richard Blackaby at 11:12 pm