Maintaining Stability as a Leader
Maintaining stability as a leader is one of the greatest crisis in America today. Business leaders, political leaders, spiritual leaders are “uprooted” from their positions by moral, financial, and ethical failure. How do you maintain long-term stability as a leader?
I’ll never forget being in Lebanon and taking a trip to see the “cedars of Lebanon.” There, perched high on a mountain, these gentle giants were 30 ft. around! I wondered how they received their nourishment and flourished in such a harsh mountaintop climate.
Our guide, a native of Lebanon and one of our Surge Project directors, gave us some really interesting insight into why these trees have been so coveted in major building projects worldwide:
1. Their roots:
The roots of these massive cedars have been found thousands of feet in the valley below! Their circumference is massive because of their huge root structure. Stability in our lives comes from “roots,” a depth of marriage, relationships, personal discipleship in prayer and the Word, convictions and values, and good financial decisions.
“If you don’t have enough inward “resources,” you will never become a fruitful person”
2. Their fruits:
The cedar not only sends roots down but draws the sap up from the valley below. “Fruit” is “excess life.” It only occurs when the sap is over-sufficient for the tree. If you don’t have enough inward resources, you will never become a fruitful person. We must continue to increase in inward fruitfulness of the Spirit throughout our lives with a crescendo at the end. The anointing, the fullness, the “sap” is resurrection life of joy, happy families, and fulfillment in ministry.
3. Their fragrance:
The cedar was exported worldwide because it was rot-free and bug-free. Solomon’s chariot and temple were made of it.
A ministry has a certain “fragrance” when there is no sham or hypocrisy at it’s core. Solid ministries attract. Paul said, “We are a fragrance of Christ unto God among those who are being saved…” (2 Cor. 2: 15).
No wonder the Psalmist spoke of these huge trees as an example for us to walk in rootedness, fruitfulness, and fragrance:
“The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, he will grow like the cedars of Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still yield fruit in old age; they shall be full of sap and very green.”
(Ps. 92: 12-14)
God wants you to be “EVERGREEN!” What is the area you feel you need to improve in most? Your depth as a person, inward joy, or your inward character?