Competent leaders deserve and should insist on loyalty and commitment from their team. Read Luke 14:25-35.

During His three years of public ministry Jesus gave Himself wholly to His assignment from God and to His team. He demonstrated His ability, commitment, resourcefulness and intelligence in private settings, to the masses, and to the political and religious leaders of His day. Jesus’ example tended to drive the uncommitted away but attracted the committed. His passion to honor God and His competence in carrying out His assignment gained the trust, respect, loyalty and commitment of His team. Jesus never hesitated to tell His followers to count the costs of following Him because He wanted their all or nothing.

Wise leaders know that before demanding high levels of commitment, they must demonstrate a level of competence. Competence is required to gain the trust and respect of their team. John Maxwell discusses competence in a note in The Maxwell Leadership Bible:

Competence goes beyond words. It’s the leader’s ability to say it, plan it, and do it in such a way that others know you know your business – and know that they want to follow you. Competence must be sought at every organizational level. Incompetence can be tolerated nowhere, John Gardner once wrote, “The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”

Once a leader has demonstrated competence they must identify what it is within their organization that is worthy of their team’s commitment. I personally have found that rather than asking the question, “How do we get commitment?” it is better to ask, “To what or to whom are we committed?” No matter how competent the leader, until their team understands what they are doing that is worthy of commitment it will feel shallow to the team to be asked for commitment. For the Christian leader, when their organization’s goals and outcomes are properly related to God and the organization’s activities honor Him, commitment will make sense to the team.

Jesus said that His team’s love for Him needed to be so great that all other human relationships would pale by comparison. While it is true that only Jesus would qualify for that kind of devotion, leaders can learn from Jesus’ example and should not hesitate to ask their team to count the costs of being on the team so they can chose to get on board or leave for a cause and leader they can commit to wholeheartedly.

 Job 11:13-15 “Yet if you devote your heart to Him and stretch out your hands to Him, If you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.”

The Christian leader’s performance should be so distinctively positive that it demands an explanation. Read Malachi 1:6-14.

The book of Malachi is the last book in the Bible’s Old Testament. Malachi was a prophet to the people living in Judah and Jerusalem about 70 years after the return from the Babylonian exile and about 440 years before Christ was born. After Malachi spoke to the people for God there was a period of silence for over 400 years until John the Baptist came on the scene. Malachi prophesied during a period of corrupt priests, wicked practices, and compromised leaders. He called the leaders to account for ignoring God’s standards of excellence.

We serve a God that is committed to excellence and perfection in everything He does. Likewise, godly leaders should work with all their heart and give their best effort all of the time. Read 2 Chronicles 2-6.

Solomon saw to it that the design and construction of the temple was done with care and excellence. He knew that his mission was to glorify God in the construction of this building, and he shared his father David’s vision and passion for the task.

Leaders need to be aware of a subtle enemy to effective leadership – burnout. That physical and psychological exhaustion and diminished efficiency resulting from overwork or prolonged exposure to stress. Often, the problem starts with a legitimate crisis that truly demands additional time and effort. But, somehow when the crisis is over, we don’t go back to a normal routine of work, recreation, and rest.

If a leader does not take conscious steps to correct the problem, there are several actions that seem to happen almost automatically so the body and mind can protect themselves from longterm damage. We have a health crisis that gets our attention, we lose passion for our situations and change jobs or change spouses or we find a distraction in other activities that take us away from the activity that seems to be what is creating the exhaustion and stress. One of the auto-corrective actions that appears to be the most innocent looking burnout-buster is distraction. But, for any leader, distraction is the great enemy of direction. Read 1 Kings 11:1-43.

Professional athletes and coaches are committed to excellence because they want to win championships. Corporate executives are committed to excellence because they want to please customers and increase profits. These can be good motives. But as followers of Christ the motive that drives a leader to excellence should be a desire to please the One who will give us our final reward. Everything we do should be done with a conscious awareness of His presence, a realization that He is watching. Read 1 Kings 10:1-13.

Solomon had been king of Israel about 20 years. He had completed the construction of several magnificent buildings including the Temple of God and his personal palace. His fame for wisdom and understanding had spread throughout the known world. As with any account that seems too amazing to be true, some of the leaders of other nations determined to pay Israel a visit to meet Solomon for themselves. One such visitor was the queen of Sheba.