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A friend of mine in an executive leadership role just admitted to his team he's dealing with uncharacteristic depression. Another female friend who's a senior leader is having trouble sleeping and handling incessant stress. Yet another friend is eaten up with grief over the layoffs he's had to administer.
I've felt some disconnection from my own team, and I, too have had months of insomnia. For many leaders, what was a sudden jolt from the pandemic has extended into a chronic stretch of worry and anxiety stirred up anew by protests and the election.
Without the ease of proximity, pastors are struggling to shepherd their flocks. Digital only goes so far. Marketplace leaders have shifted how they meet and operate, and while WFH is a productive new way to work for many, not everyone feels the same way about the virtual solitude.
My Bible study class at church has been Zooming since March; my coworkers have staggered their days in the office so the team is never there all together.
Leadership in the church and marketplace right now is just hard.
Here are two biblical approaches that are helping me process 2020.
1. Survive your desert
One way we can begin to overcome these stressful times is to acknowledge reality.
In my case, I struggle at times to recapture the energy I once took for granted. My business fell off a cliff. Those are hard truths I can't escape.
As we come to terms with our desert realities, our next step is to persevere. Perhaps "survive" is a more appropriate word for you!
Jesus literally spent 40 days in a desert, where he not only personally suffered deep hunger and thirst, he endured spiritual attacks from the devil himself. He was humbled, weakened and stretched to his physical limits.
But what happened right afterward? He commanded Satan to flee. The angels were finally allowed to come to his aid. He conscripted his disciples into service. He preached and healed throughout Galilee. He drove out demons from tormented people. Word about him spread like a mighty wind, and crowds sprung up wherever he went.
While in the desert, Jesus fully relied on the Father, resisted the devil, and persevered through his incredibly trying time.
The lesson for us: hang on, trust God, and reject evil thoughts. This experience will end. Spiritual fruitfulness will return!
2. Light up your world
As we move from Matthew 4 to chapter 5, Jesus' ministry develops quickly. Amidst the excitement and energy swirling around him and his newly ordained disciples, he sat them down for a lesson.
They knew what he had been through, and they surely marveled at how the Spirit had blessed him.
Jesus said they would be blessed too, if they felt poor in spirit, mourned, saw themselves as meek and humble, or hungered and thirsted for righteousness. He promised these difficulties of life would be redeemed, even rewarded. (See Mt. 5:1-6.)
Secondly, he told them to go out into the world and shine a light of mercy, purity, and of peace, and to endure persecution (see vv. 7-12). He modeled this for them the rest of his earthly days.
Do you feel down, grieved, weak or spiritually empty? Like Jesus, go out and show mercy to others. Confess your sins and ask him to help you be pure. Be a person of peace.
More ways to spread light
Isaiah 61 is a magnificent chapter that Jesus partially recited when he taught in the temple after his desert testing (see Luke 4:16-21). He did the very things prescribed in this passage:
The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim freedom for the captives
and release from darkness for the prisoners,
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor
and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
3 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
instead of a spirit of despair.
— Isaiah 61:1-3
If you've put your faith in Christ, you have the Spirit of God in you, too. Can you proclaim good news? Bind up someone who's brokenhearted? Free someone held captive by their sin? Proclaim the Lord's favor, or comfort someone who's grieving a sense of loss?
At the end of his ministry, Jesus tells us we can do these things, and more! The indwelling Spirit makes it possible.
Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.
—John 14:12
Though it may not feel like it, our Comforter lives in us during these anxious times, and if we let his light break through—even if only for moments at a time—the world will brighten, and we will be blessed.
 | 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 » |
Have you ever felt the pull to full-time ministry work as a missionary or pastor? If not, you can still make a Kingdom impact without quitting your current job. In this eBook, you will learn the four essentials that can change your perspective of work, your workplace, and most importantly, your heart.
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Ryan Sanders serves as the Director of Content for BiblicalLeadership.com. |
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