We all know this, but do we believe it. John Maxwell gave us the mantra, “Leaders are readers.”  Many other Christian leaders have come along and reiterated the process by which we all grow.  In Roman 12:1-2 the apostle Paul tells us,

Dear friends, God is good. So I beg you to offer your bodies to him as a living sacrifice, pure and pleasing. That’s the most sensible way to serve God. Don’t be like the people of this world, but let God change the way you think. Then you will know how to do everything that is good and pleasing to him. (CEV)

In the NIV it say, “Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Our self-improvement does not come from ourselves.  Many of us believe this transformation takes place over the course of our Christian walk.  Through the Holy Spirit we are changed to be more like Christ here on Earth.  But in order for this transformation to take place we have to spend time with Christ in prayer and reading in the bible.  In his book Courageous Leadership Bill Hybels quotes an article by Dee Hock who says we should spend 50% of our time leading ourselves (p183).  Bill Hybels said he was stunned when he read it, and I was stunned when I read what he wrote, so I imagine you may be a little stunned when you read this.  So what do we do?

After unpacking that statement over the last month, I began to look at it in the light of the disciples.  As leaders in the 21st century we spend a lot of time doing busy work. I follow a lot of the “Church Leaders” of today on twitter and they spend a lot of time just tweeting about what they do. The disciples spent their time learning from Jesus, and trying to get a grasp around what he was doing and saying.  We spend most of our time either trying to look like we are important, or trying to be like other leaders of today and not Jesus.

The disciples asked questions. We believe that we have expensive college degrees, so we know everything.  These university degrees allow us to hold the positions we have and to tell others what to do.  Most of our power comes from our positions and not from Jesus.  We need to learn from the disciples who in Acts 6 put others in charge of waiting tables while they devoted themselves to learning and sharing the word. We have to spend time away from the crowds to lead the crowds.

We can choose one of two roads. The easy one that says, “I am a leader and these people will follow me.” or the one that says, “I am a leader and I need to learn to lead myself first.” The road we choose will determine how much time we spend letting Jesus develop us as leaders.

In Proverbs 27:17 the writer tells us that, “As iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.” (NIV)  The Contemporary English Version (CEV) says, “Just as iron sharpens iron, friends sharpen the minds of each other.”

I had been a Christian for less than two years when I first experienced iron sharpening iron.  The pastor of our small church gave me a set of John Maxwell tapes.  He told me he thought I had a gift as a leader and those tapes would help me grow.  I wore those tapes out. I figured out how to hook a tape player to my computer and I recorded them all and turned them into mp3s.  I still go back and listen to several of them each year.

When we live in community with people we’re put there is helpers.  As we grow in our walk with Christ we should be helping those around us grow as well.  If we’re constantly grating on others because we think everyone should think like we do we’re not being helpful. If we are challenging others to grow out of love we will grow as well as Christ in us.

Take time to look around your community of believers.  Are there young Christian who need discipleship?   Are there people who just need a friend?  Go be the iron to those people this week.

Take a look at yourself.  What do you need? Are there older Christians you can learn from?  Are there Christians around your age that you can gather with any help each other?  Think about hat you can get involved in your community of believers and do it.

“Everything has a price.  You can either pay now or you can pay later, but you will pay.”

This fact became very real to me as I  read through the book of Leviticus in the bible.  God laid out a system to show the Israelites that every thing they did had to be paid for.  Every time they fell short of Gods standard, they had to offer a sacrifice to make up for that sin.  Much of my life has been spent not wanting to believe that what I do has consequences. I know now with looming Dr’s visits that I am going to pay some sort of price that remains to be seen, but I will pay for my stupidity.

Romans 6:23 summarizes Leviticus saying, “Work hard for sin your whole life and your pension is death.”  Everything we do has a price.  Whether it is hard-drinking, womanizing, premarital sex, porn, theft, or just arguing with your kids;  every thing has a price.  I thank God that everything also has been paid for in the death of Jesus.  Jesus paid for our sin on the cross.  The last part of Romans 6:23 says, “But God’s gift is real life, eternal life, delivered by Jesus, our Master.” No matter how bad we have been, no matter how much we have fallen short of God’s ultimate standard, Jesus will stand between us and God and say I have paid for that in full.

Scripture taken from The Message

Image used under cc2.0 license from http://www.flickr.com/photos/sharpstick/

What is the right view of greatness?

You must first realize that greatness is grown and not given.  You can not wake up “great” one morning unless you have put in a lot of time learning to be great before that morning.  I heard John Maxwell say, “What you are in ten years will be determined by what you are reading today.”  If you do nothing you will get exactly that.  Work is part of greatness.  If you want to be a great leader then you have to work toward that.  If you want to be a great parent, you have to work toward that.  If you want to be a great person, you have to work toward that.

Don’t confuse Greatness with Fame.

Many people in today’s American culture believe greatness is being on television or being famous.  The problem with that thinking is, being on T.V. does not make you great, and from what I have seen it usually makes you a jerk. From the local news guy or woman to the Hollywood star or starlet most people who are “famous” to us are great bu any means.  Don’t confuse politics with greatness either.  Think about it, how big of an ego do you need to believe you are better than anyone else in an entire state or nation for one job.  These guys fall all the time because their ego has to be continually fed.   Don’t get me wrong, we used to have great leaders and great news people and I am sure we still do.  The majority makes the great ones look bad and they all get lumped together.

Spend Time Working On Yourself

Make a habit of getting up daily and going to work on yourself.  Spend as much time as you possibly can every day reading books and listening to Cd’s or mp3′s from speakers that build up your life.  Change the way you think about life and the world.  If you hate everything or if you complain stop doing it.  Make a conscious effort stop the bad habit.  If you are a religious person spend time reading your holy books and learning from them.  I am a Christian and I spend time daily not just reading the bible and praying, but trying to practice what I have learned.

Work with a coach if you need a good swift kick in the rear a coach is great for the job. I offer coaching but if you need someone to run through a thought process you are having, feel free to contact me.

Why can we not just show up? We hear all the time about the kid that makes a million dollars just because he or she just did one small thing. So why can’t we just show up and be successful. I know a couple that was in the right place at the right time and are now millionaires. The problem is the right place was managing McDonald’s. Are you willing to start at the bottom cooking fries and flipping burgers to make a million dollars? Probably not; so you waste tens of thousands of dollars trying to find the next get rich scheme on the internet or in mail order or where ever it may come from.

Personal Development is the key to changing your life.  John Maxwell once said, “What your are reading today, is who you will be ten years from now.” Do you understand the implications of watching the news or just television in general everyday for hours on end. It consumes you it becomes who you are. you begin to see that life is bad. everyone is out to get everyone else. Our government is out to get us. You lose your will to be the success you were called to be. You take on the personification of someone you are not.

If you want to succeed tomorrow then start by bettering your life. Go Buy a book or get some coaching. If you think coaching is to expensive then try email coaching or hit me up on Facebook. I do email coaching all the time because it is more affordable for some people. Some books you can read are Zig Ziglars Better Than Good: Creating a Life You Can’t Wait to Live and John Maxwell’s Today Matters: 12 Daily Practices to Guarantee Tomorrow’s Success. Both of these books will start you on the road to personal development. But don’t stop with two. Read every book you can find on personal development and if you need someone to keep you accountable get a coach.  I am not saying read self-help books that tell you that you need a better view of yourself.  Read books that give you an outline of how to succeed.  You are not going to agree with or enjoy every book you read but if you get one nugget out of each book you will see yourself begin to change.  Over time ever thing you read and do adds up to help you rise above the rest. 

I have a coach to help me get better and my coach has a coach. Tiger, Oprah, and countless others have coaches.  Successful people have others around them that can speak encouragement to them and help them develop themselves.  If you have friends that are of the same mindset then begin to meet with them and start to sharpen each other.  If your friends are people who make fun of you and try to pull you down to their level then they are not the ones to speak encouragement into your life.  Get someone in your life you can count on to help in your development. 

If you want to be truly successful then you must develop yourself. I want to also suggest the bible as daily reading. If you are of a different faith then by all means read your holy books. But as a Christian I read the bible and suggest it to those I coach. Don’t let the rest of your life slip away. Make the choice today to become the person you were called to be.