I remember the evening with shameful regret. One of our leadership
teams was experiencing some normal ministry struggles resulting in a
period of disunity. Though the situation was not disastrous, you may not
have known it from my response in the moment. In prideful pomp, I said
some regretful words out of a heavy-handed spirit. Later, a brother
graciously confronted me. I was amazed at the destructive leadership of
which I was easily capable. At that time, God pressed upon me the danger
of heavy-handed leadership. It’s subtle, all too prominent, often
sinfully excused as “righteous anger,” and, if gone unchecked, will
leave a path of carnage.
It is the unmistakable symptom of a
kingly motive, looking for any way to build one’s little kingdom. No man
is exempt from the intoxicating influence of a little power. Anyone is
an easy victim to it. Power is a dangerous thing for a mere man to have;
especially a young man new to ministry.
In his younger days, it’s possible that Peter made similar mistakes.
Perhaps for that reason, God penned the mandate to future leaders:
biblical leadership means not “lording it over those allotted to your
charge” (1 Peter 5:3).
To “lord it over” carries the idea of “exercising dominion against
someone, for example, to one’s own advantage” (Werner Foerster, TDNT,
3:1098), or, a “heavy-handed use of authority for personal enlargement
that is seen in the desire to dominate” (D. Edmond Hiebert, 1 Peter, p. 305). The word is also used of the demon which attacked and “subdued” the seven sons of the high priest in Acts 19:16. Keep Reading >>>
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