Love and faithfulness keep a leader safe. Through love leadership is secured. ~Proverbs 20:28
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand is not the shepherd who owns the sheep. So, when he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf attacks the flock and scatters it. The man runs away because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me—just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep. ~John 10:11-15
Josh McDowell, a contemporary speaker to youth and parents, often says, “Rules without relationship leads to rebellion.” His advice is intended for parents, to help them discern how to remain effective leaders in their homes, especially through the teen years. In truth, however, his advice is useful for all leaders if they want to be effective in their position. People will only take so much being bossed around until, they either leave or revolt.
In fact, the mental health community expresses great concern for the person who continues to remain in a relationship with a person with a domineering personality. The domineering one is usually abusing, not loving the codependent one. It is not good or healthy on either side.
Another slogan that may be appropriate here is: “People don’t really care what you know until they know that you care.” This could be a strike back at the numbers game that so many organizations, especially churches have played in the past. How many people do you have following you? How many people use your product? How many decisions for Christ have you accumulated? Eventually, people resent becoming a part of a statistic and will leave, continuing to seek for where they are loved, or at least feel loved.
Inner city gangs fill that void. In the breakdown of the family, young people are desperate to belong to some group that will be family, some group that will care, some one that will have their back if they are in trouble or face danger. They are willing to do incredible things, some very dangerous, to earn the right to belong to a group that will care.
We all have such a desperate need to be loved. God loved us first. He gave us the ability to love so that we would be able to love Him back. Satan does all he can to distort what the true object of our love was meant to be. When a baby goose hatches, the first being he is supposed to see is his mother. So, he will attach to whatever moving being he sees first. It is called imprinting. Scientists have played around with this imprinting phenomenon over the years and have discovered that it really doesn’t matter what the goose first sees, it does not discriminate between a goose and something else. Whatever the first thing it sees is, that is what it will follow, because that is what it believes is its mother.
It is similar for human beings. We are also most strongly influenced by our experiences, and the people we live with, in our early childhood. In fact, Psychologists tell us that most of our personality is formed by the age of five, structured by the circumstances under which it was formed up to that point. Supposedly, we don’t change much after that without undergoing a radical life changing experience to counter it. Satan, of course, tries to imprint us with experiences that would influence us to follow evil, but God created family, a loving and secure structure, for our good.
The Bible often refers to us as sheep. That isn’t necessarily a compliment. One has to wonder if God created sheep on purpose to show us humans, created in His image, how we appear to Him. Sheep are not self-sufficient. You will never encounter a flock of wild sheep on a hillside. You also probably won’t find a lone sheep, wandering off to live by itself. A sheep may wander off, but it isn’t intentional. When it happens, the shepherd is immediately on a search for the wayward animal because he knows that its survival is nil if it is left to wander. Sheep need a shepherd to think for them. They also need their shepherd to be loving and caring. They do not thrive under bullying and harsh behavior. However, a sheep that knows it is loved by its shepherd will return that love without question.
As leaders, we will be most successful when we shepherd those we want to follow us. They want to belong to a group of followers in which they see a leader who truly cares about them. A hired person sees those in his care only as responsibilities, a job. They follow the rules, crunch the numbers, and compare flocks. A shepherd builds relationships. A shepherd does his best to keep the sheep from straying, not just because it is his is duty, but because he loves them. In return, his leadership becomes secure because the people know how much he cares.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd who cares. He cares about those who have wandered off and those who have not yet found Him and acknowledged Him as their Shepherd. He also cares about those who are already part of His flock, to lead us in righteousness and truth and blessing.
Prayer: Oh, Father I know You love me! So, I gladly follow You and trust you even if my path looks like the valley of the shadow of death! Even if my emotions make me fearful of that way, I know You will take care of me. Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Song: The King of Love My Shepherd Is
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