Leadership Thought: Take My Hand (A Devotional by Pastor Greg Laurie)

Dear Friends

In the 1800s in London, a little boy wanted to hear the great American evangelist D. L. Moody, who had come to town to preach. This little street urchin made his way across the entire city of London, risking his very life, with no food or proper shoes. After a long journey, he finally came to the great church where Moody was scheduled to speak.

 As he made his way up to the door, an old usher scowled at him and asked, “What are you doing, young man?”

The boy said, “I am going to go hear the great evangelist D. L. Moody.”

“Not looking like that! You are filthy. Go away!”

The little boy was crushed. He was sitting on the steps, crying, when a black carriage pulled up in front of the church. Out of it stepped a large man. He saw the sad little boy on the steps and asked, “Young man, what is wrong?”

The boy answered, “I came here to hear the great preacher D. L. Moody, but they won’t let me in the church.”

“Is that so?” the big man said. “You just put your hand in my hand, and I will see what I can do to help you.”

The little boy put his dirty little hand into the man’s big, clean hand. The man led him right down the middle aisle, past the usher who wouldn’t let him in, to the front row. The big guy sat him in a front-row seat. Then the man stepped up to the pulpit. That man was, of course, D. L. Moody. That young boy couldn’t get in on his own, but when he held Moody’s hand, he walked through the front door.

So, it is with us, because of Jesus. We are filthy in sin. In Psalm 51:5, David wrote, “For I was born a sinner—yes, from the moment my mother conceived me” (NLT).

Isaiah 53:6 says, “All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the LORD laid on him the sins of us all” (NLT). The apostle Paul wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23 NLT). Because of our sinfulness, we have no hope of entering Heaven on our own.

Our only hope is Jesus, who takes our dirty hand in His clean one and leads us to a front-row seat in God’s presence. As Paul puts it in the next two verses of Romans 3: “Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood” (verses 24–25 NLT).

The frustrating reality for many people trying to establish themselves today is also the glorious reality of salvation: It all depends on who you know.

Leadership Thought: Leaders Need Encouragement for It Can Be Lonely at the Top

Dear Friends.

A while ago, I spoke with a couple of friends who asked what they could do to encourage their pastor.

We often assume that those at the top don't need encouragement, but pastors and others in leadership positions need and appreciate it every bit as much as anyone else.  Unfortunately, they don’t always receive it.

Leaders can often be caught in the crosshairs of criticism, becoming easy targets for angry people.

Several years ago, I was watching a PBS television presentation in which the curator of the Library of Congress revealed the contents found in the wallet of Abraham Lincoln on the night he was assassinated. 

Included among the items found in President Lincoln's wallet were a handkerchief, embroidered with the words A. Lincoln, a pen knife, a spectacle's case, a five dollar Confederate bill, and a torn newspaper clipping of an article of a speech given by John Bright, a historian, in which he had referred to Abraham Lincoln, as "one of the greatest men of all times."

Lincoln must have cherished those affirming words as he dealt with the hatred and criticism of those who opposed him and his leadership during the Civil War.

If anyone knew loneliness and needed encouragement, it was President Lincoln. If anyone needed someone to come alongside him with a handshake, a hug, or an encouraging word, it was the President. If anyone needed to know that there were people who loved him, cared about him, and deeply appreciated the sacrifice he was making as president amidst such tumultuous times, it was President Lincoln.

Yes, it can be lonely at the top, and Lincoln knew it, and so does every other person who holds a position of leadership. Leaders often pay a price for being at the top, and it's called loneliness. 

The Apostle Paul knew loneliness. He writes to Timothy, "Everyone in the province of Asia has deserted me" (Timothy, 1:15).

And who can forget the anguished cry of separation screamed out on the cross by our Savior: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

 A. W. Tozer has written, "Most of the world's great souls have been lonely," and as a Jewish proverb declares, "Loneliness, eats into the soul." Quotations for the Christian World, Edith Draper, p. 390. 

That said, what can we do about it? We can encourage those who are our leaders. We can write letters of encouragement in which we tell them that we are praying for them, as we are reminded to do in 1Timothy 2:2.

There are many ways to express our encouragement to those in leadership positions, and if we are intentional about encouraging them, the Spirit of God will show us how to do it. 

As my meeting with those friends drew to a close, I remembered a message told at a pastor's funeral. 

 After many glowing tributes were given by those in the congregation, one pastor stood up and said, "If only your pastor could have heard those encouraging words today, for if he had, he might still be alive, for your pastor died of a broken heart."

 And then the pastor concluded by saying, "More pastors die from broken hearts than swelled heads."

Is there a leader, you know, whose heart might be encouraged by your kind expression of appreciation?

It is said that encouragement is” oxygen to the soul,” and we can’t live very long without it.

I would encourage you to take some time today to dispense some oxygen to a leader you know who might desperately need it.

Yours in faith,

Tom