Today I continue the series ‘Establishing the Government of God’. One of the great challenges of leadership is leading people through change. Human nature does not like change, especially personal change affecting hearts and minds. Business and government leaders struggle to motivate people through the change process. Large companies send leaders to weeks of leadership training on how to lead people through change. Why? Because most people will resist change if they think it will affect them in any way.
Church leaders face this challenge as well; the difference being that business and government can and will force the change via organizational rules and job performance standards. Leaders of the church have encouragement, prayer, teaching, casting vision, etc. to motivate people in the direction God would have them go. There are no church member performance standards that say ‘change or we won’t let you tithe here anymore!!!' Many people leave churches and ministries because of change. If ‘change’ requires transformation of heart and mind, there will be resistance!!
Moses had a big challenge getting Israel out of Egypt, even though freedom from slavery was the offered vision. He had great challenges keeping people moving toward the Promised Land rather than moving back to Pharaoh’s land. Paul offered the message of grace to the Jews and was beaten, mocked, jailed, tortured, and finally killed. That kind of change elicited that kind of resistance. Martin Luther offered change to ‘justification by faith’ encountering great resistance in the Catholic Church. The reluctance to change is the same today as it was thousands of years ago. The knowns of the present seem better than the unknowns of the future change process.
A life in God is a life that is always changing; changing toward something better. A life following Christ is a life continually being transformed into His image. He leads us into many uncomfortable places for two reasons; our good and the good of the Kingdom. ‘If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.’(Luke 9:23, 24) The cross is the process of change. Change occurs instantaneously in our spirit upon being born-again. It occurs in our soul and body over time as we embrace change; i.e. take up our cross daily. To establish the ‘government of God’ in your life, you must embrace the process of the cross, the process of continual transformation of soul. The human nature will resist it. The spirit nature will embrace it. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, so you don’t have to be the same; same problems….same mindset….same anxiety….same….same …..same. He say’s ‘take up the cross of change and as you change My ‘government’ will be established in you. Be encouraged leaders! The Jews made it to the Promised Land! Martin Luther’s leadership started a change that today has the growth of non-Catholic Christian churches increasing about 4 times the rate of that of the Catholic faith. And, the fledgling church, for which Paul suffered greatly, now comprises 2.2 billion people. Leaders; preach the cross of change; change into the image of Christ; the continual transformation that establishes the government of God in the hearts and minds of the people!
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