GUEST POST: Motivation for Leadership

“For they loved praise from men more than praise from God.” –John 12:43

In our culture celebrity and fame are highly esteemed. With social media, blogging, webcams, self-publishing, YouTube, smartphones, and the like, everyone can be a star. Fifteen minutes of fame has turned into camping out on life’s stage.

William Shakespeare would be proud of what we have become. It has validated what he asserted long ago, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages” (Brainy Quote).

When it comes to our positions in leadership and our motivations for leading, we should not be overly concerned with the praises of people. Caring too much about what other people think can hinder our mission and keep us from doing what is necessary. Worst of all, our concern to please others and do the popular thing can hinder the Gospel. We should concern ourselves with pleasing and serving God and others. Our job as Christian leaders is to make God famous, not ourselves.

Jesus addressed this in John 12:43 when He talked about how the religious leaders were thinking more about what other people thought about them, rather than thinking about pleasing God. Their motivation for leadership was wrong. The religious leaders were more concerned for receiving the praises of people and not about bringing praises and worship to God.

When we seek to serve God and others, He is pleased with our leadership and He gets the glory and the spotlight.

Prayer: God help us to lead well, not as the religious leaders of Jesus’ day “For they loved praise from men more than praise from God” (John 12:43). Help us to serve you in humility. Help us to not pursue the empty praises of people, which can inflate our egos, distort our motivations, and hinder our effectiveness. Would we seek you, your glory and your praises in our leadership. Help us to be motivated by your great love in service to you. Amen.

About Robbie:

Robbie Pruitt is a high school Bible teacher in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Robbie loves Jesus, ministry, the great outdoors, writing poetry and writing about theology, discipleship and leadership. He has been in ministry more than 17 years and graduated from Trinity School for Ministry with a Diploma in Christian Ministry and from Columbia International University with a B.A. in Bible and General Studies and a minor in Youth Ministry. Follow his blogs at RobbiePruitt.Blogspot.com and RobbiePruitt.com, connect with him on Facebook and Twitter.