Leading From Acceptance

“To the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” (Ephesians 1:6 NKJV)

At one point or another, most leaders have craved attention in an inordinate manner. We want people to like us, accept us, and follow us. Unfortunately, this mindset drives many leaders in an unhealthy direction. I’ve heard it said, if you want to please everyone, be an ice cream salesman and not a leader. As we grow in our leadership, we will discover more times than not that we will be disliked, dishonored, and even betrayed. We must grasp God’s acceptance with a death grip.

The word “beloved” in the passage above means “highly and most greatly loved.” As believers, first and foremost, we have this one commonality: We ALL belong to the community of faith and share in every spiritual blessing because of what JESUS did for us (Acts 4:32; Ephesians 1:3). It is by God’s grace alone that we are loved and valued for who we are over what we do. We must find our value in Christ before we can add value to others. This is the foundation for all healthy leadership.

It’s easy to get caught in the cycle of leading for approval from others, but through Christ, we have all the love and acceptance we will ever need. Once we settle this in our hearts, we can live free from the need for respect. Sometimes, leading is a thankless and unappreciated job. Yet, when we know we are fully loved by God apart from what we do for Him, it empowers us to love and serve others without limit. Freely we have RECEIVED, thus freely we can GIVE (Matthew 10:5-8).

3 thoughts to take away from this...

1. Healthy leaders know they perfectly BELONG even when they don’t perfectly BEHAVE.

2. Healthy leaders are fulfilled in their IDENTITY before they fulfill their RESPONSIBILITY.

3. Healthy leaders serve FROM acceptance VS. serve FOR acceptance.

PRAYER

“Lord… I thank you that I have been fully accepted by You and placed into the community of faith by grace alone. Nothing I do or don’t do will ever change how You feel about me. I belong, no strings attached. Help me to fully embrace this truth so I can fully live out your will for my life and more powerfully serve those you have placed in my sphere of influence. I rest in Your grace so that I might run the race You have chosen for me…. In Jesus name… Amen.”