4 ways leaders should seek healthy glory
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We all know the servant leader eschews glory. For him or her, humility should come before honor (Prov. 18:12), never the reverse.
But there is a healthy glory the leader can seek. In fact, they shouldseek it.
Glory stems from the root idea of "heaviness" and indicates "weight" or "worthiness." It can describe a person's wealth, splendor or reputation.
But rather than seeking to enrich our reputation or our coffers, God wants us to chase after spiritual glory in at least four ways:
1. Nurture wisdom, patience and peace. Prov. 19:11 says, "A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense." Add to that Prov. 20:3 – "It is to a man's honor to avoid strife, but every fool is quick to quarrel."
2. Seek God's truths. Prov. 25:2 reads, "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter; to search out a matter is the glory of kings."
3. Let God himself become your glory. Psalm 3:3 reveals that God's strength fills us and surrounds us: "But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high."
4. Accept the glory God has already bestowed upon you. Psalm 8:5 (NLT) – "Yet you made them only a little lower than God and crowned them with glory and honor."
As Psalm 103:4 says, Christian leaders are already crowned with love and compassion.
Let's lead with that glorious crown firmly in place.
Excerpted from Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership, by Tom Harper (DeepWater Books, 2019).
 | Tom Harper is publisher of BiblicalLeadership.com and executive chairman of Networld Media Group, a business-to-business publisher and event producer. He has written five books, including Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership (DeepWater Books, 2019) as well as the Christian business fable Through Colored Glasses and its sequel Inner Threat (DeepWater, 2022). Learn More » |
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