As a leader, I must constantly be working on myself. Leader’s that stop growing, quickly start declining and losing influence. A great example of someone growing as a leader is Peter, one of the 12 disciples that followed Jesus. Focus and self-discipline provide the foundation for solid leadership. Peter learned this lesson the hard way. Over a three and a half year period, God transformed Peter from a cocky, loud influence to a thoughtful, humble leader. As I read in 1 Peter, one of his letter to the Christian Jews, he gives three directives in this area of focus and self-discipline:
- Guard Your Mind – Peter reminds us to put boundaries around what we allow into our minds. What we allow in will influence us and deceive us. Filling our minds with truth helps us to guard it from the lies that are all around us. Peter tells us to remain focused and sober.
- Guard Your Hearts – He also reminds us that we need to prevent old patterns from penetrating our hearts. He warns us about the former lusts, which can not only distract us, but can destroy us.
- Guard Your Lifestyle – Peter tells us to pursue holiness. The only way to do that is to follow and embrace the model Christ gave. Since God is holy, we should copy what we see Him doing.
Peter also talks a good bit about sacrifice and submission. He tells us to respect and submit to authorities, regardless of how the authorities might treat those they are over. He reminds us that God places all people in authority for His plans and His purpose. Peter reminds us in chapter two about the sacrifice that Jesus made for all of us. He suffered greatly and died for us. Here is how Jesus responded to the insults, mockery, physical beatings, false accusations and carrying all our sin:
- Did not retaliate, but kept silent
- Made no threats
- No deceit came from his mouth
- Fully entrusted himself to the Father (God)
Peter also does a nice job of addressing husbands and wives. No home can thrive without functioning according to sound spiritual leadership principles:
- First he challenged wives to submit to their husbands, even those who do not submit to Christ.
- When the wife submits even though she opposes her husbands decision, she gives a powerful witness to Christ and brings a special honor to Him.
- Husbands are called to live with their wives in an understanding way.
- Husbands are to honor their wives and model submission and service.
- Husbands are to initiate blessing, rather than retaliate when things go wrong.
- Husbands and wives need to assume responsibility for the health of their relationships, which means setting the tone. To set the tone, they should initiate what they want others to do.
- Get respect by showing respect
- Get understanding by being understanding
- Listen well, trying to understand instead of being understood.
- Get quality time by giving quality time
- Hears words of affirmation by giving words of affirmation
- Get served by first serving
- Receive unconditional love by first giving unconditional loving
He then talks about spiritual gifts. Peter encourages us to make five observations about our spiritual gifts:
- Every believer has at least one spiritual gift. (1 Peter 4:10)
- Spiritual gifts are intended to serve people, not bolster our reputations. (v.10)
- We use our gifts as stewards or managers, not owners. (v.10)
- God is the source and the sustainer of every gift. (v. 11)
- We are to employ our gifts as though we were serving the Lord. (v. 11)
When we fail to use our gifts properly, we are disobedient, the body of Christ (Church) suffers and God is not glorified.
Peter closes his letter by addressing church leaders and encouraging them to lead well. He calls church leaders to:
- Be a minister to the people by serving them before being served.
- Be a mentor of the people by eagerly investing in people and being a good example.
- Be a manager of the people by exercising oversight over those entrusted to your care.
- Be a model for the people by demonstrating how to live and love.
Peter encourages us to humble ourselves by casting all our cares on God. Only then does God promise to exalt us.
I hope these thoughts from Peters letter are helpful in your spiritual growth. I encourage you to go and read 1 Peter for yourself. I am sure there are other nuggets of gold that may be just what you need.