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The Force of Focus (part 2): Five practical ways we can maintain a narrow focus

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In The Force of Focus part 1, I highlighted the need and priority to be able to focus. This is my theme for the year and I’m addressing one of the primary challenges that I face: the challenge of how I keep my focus on what matters most when there are so many things that can distract me. I’m seeking to address the following challenges that I/we face as leaders:

  • How do we keep our focus in a world where there are so many things vying for our attention?
  • How do we focus when there are so many good things we could be doing as there are so many needs we could be addressing?
  • How do we avoid the pitfalls that so many leaders seem to stumble into, the more nefarious distractions that can compromise our integrity and derail our growth and impact?
  • And how, as Christ-centred servant leaders, do we follow the example of Jesus so that we can remain focused on Him for the long haul, committing our lives to fulfilling the tasks that He has set out for us to accomplish (Eph. 2:10)?

In this article, I want to provide some practical steps we can take to maintain our focus in a world of distractions. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but some principles I’m seeking to apply in my life and leadership.

  1. Run from Danger
    I think this is perhaps the best piece of advice we can give anyone in leadership. It seems that so many leaders want to live on the edge of what is morally, acceptable. And when you live on the edge, you’ll eventually fall off. The Bible is clear. Don’t court temptations. Paul instructs us to flee sexual immorality (2 Cor. 6:8) and advises his protege, Timothy, to flee youthful lusts (2 Tim. 2:22). If you are approaching a potentially morally compromising situation then turn around 180° and run away.
    This may seem a negative instruction. But it demonstrates the urgency of the situation. One single compromise in the area of sex, money, or the misuse of power can completely disintegrate our reputation as leaders, permanently derail our ministry, and ultimately undermine the cause of the Gospel. We cannot even flirt with danger in this area. No! Don’t get distracted. Run from danger as fast as you can. Perhaps the best way to do this is to confess any moral challenges you are facing to a trusted friend and ask them to stand with you in prayer as you courageously maintain your focus on maintaining a godly lifestyle.
  2. Recover Spiritual Practices
    A lot is being written about emotional and spiritual health for leaders. There are some great resources available. This is more than just having a so-called “quiet time”. Rather, it’s building spiritual disciplines in our lives to help us focus on what matters most, namely our relationship with Jesus. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all recipe for spiritual disciplines. It’s worth experimenting with different suggestions and models. What is clear is that this is a counter-cultural necessity to avoid getting caught up in what has been famously called the tyranny of the urgent (the title of Charles Hummel’s 1967 booklet, showing that this is not just a 21st-century problem).
    I particularly find the practices of journaling, listening to worship music, and prayer-walking extremely helpful. I enjoy occasional silence retreats and my wife and I have a daily reflective practice that we follow before going to bed. These spiritual rhythms help keep me focused on the Lord in the various stages of my day. What are the spiritual practices that you have found most helpful? Do you need to recover some of them into your daily rhythm of life, work, and leadership?
  3. Establish a Digital Rule of Life
    Managing our online activity is a massive challenge for 21st-century leaders. Author and speaker John Mark Comer is a strong advocate for a digital rule of life. This is a way of taking control of our devices and online activity rather than being controlled by them. Again, this could be different for everyone, but a digital rule of life will determine when and how you access the internet, communications, social media etc. It may involve putting your phone to bed at a certain time, ensuring accountability with a trusted friend about your internet usage, or having a regular sabbath from all devices. No one seems to like living by rules, however, having a digital rule of life can be life-giving and ensure we are free from enslavement and addiction to our phones and laptops. Take some time to write some guidelines down for yourself. Revisit them regularly and prayerfully consider if you are in control of your devices or are they controlling and distracting you?
  4. Consistent Reminders of our Calling
    I make no apologies for including this quote again as I feel it is key to maintaining our focus on what matters. Richard Blackaby has written:

    “One of the keys to effective leadership today is staying focused on what God has called you to do. It’s easy to become so fixated on what others are doing (or not doing) that you fail to complete the assignment God has given you. As you get older, you may find that God reduces your commitments and activities so you have time to focus on your priorities. We need to invest not in what we can do but in what we must do.”

    As leaders, we need to be able to clearly define our calling and to consistently remind ourselves of the assignment that God has given to us. It sounds so simple: we serve people best when we are serving within the things God has called us to do rather than the things we are not called to do. However, particularly for entrepreneurial Christian leaders, it’s easy to see so many gaps and opportunities. But before we pursue them, we need to be certain that it is something God is calling us into, otherwise it could be a costly distraction.
  5. Care for your Soul
    My final piece of advice is to make sure you’re having fun. If life is getting too serious, then it might be that you are focusing on the wrong things or taking too much responsibility on your own shoulders. Jesus promised that his burden is easy and his yolk is light (Mt. 11:28-30). At The Message (the organisation I’m part of) we actively seek to not take ourselves too seriously. There needs to be space and room in our lives for fun and laughter. If it’s a long time since you belly-laughed or simply engaged in some frivolous fun, then perhaps it’s time to reconsider your priorities. To maintain a healthy perspective on life and stay focused for the long haul, we need to care for our souls.

The force of focus is critical if we are to be effective as servant leaders. Our ultimate focus is on loving God and loving others. However, even as we seek to do that, we can find that we get distracted by the tasks of leadership and our daily responsibilities. I hope this article has helped provoke thought and action that will enable you to focus on what matters most.

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Leading and Grieving

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In 2016 my wife died suddenly and unexpectedly from a brain aneurysm aged 38 years of age. I was left with three children and a gaping hole in my heart. I have written about my journey through deep grief in my book Grief and Grace, Facing the Future I Didn’t Choose.

In reflecting on my journey, I have become surprised by how few Christian leaders write, speak, and preach on death, dying and grieving?

Other than at funerals, how many sermons do we hear on death? Just consider it. How many Bible studies, conferences, retreats, or concerts have you attended that have had death as their central theme? Yes, there are resources for those going through grief, but should we be waiting for disaster to happen before addressing the subject? Surely, as leaders, we need to be more proactive. Death is part of life which means it’s part of our discipleship. Therefore, we need to talk about death!

In particular, I believe that as Christian leaders we need to be equipping ourselves in this area. After all, this is a primary way in which our biblical perspective should stand out in a world of questions about suffering and death.

It seems to me that Christians give mixed messages when talking about death. We either super-spiritualise it and focus on the eternal hope we have at the expense of recognising the trauma that death does bring. Ultimately this can be an avoidance mechanism that prevents us from dealing with the grief of losing a loved one. Or we slump into despair, even to the extent of questioning our faith and the goodness of God.

The biblical perspective is not an either/or, but far more nuanced, holding these two extremes, super-spiritualisation and despair, in tension. The biblical perspective lies somewhere in the murkier space of balancing the hope we have that Jesus has conquered death, with the reality that death is a brutal invasion into our lives, one that God never intended for us.

If you are a Christian leader, then it is inevitable that there are two challenges you are going to face at some point in your leadership.

Firstly, the challenge of leading the grieving.

Whether the death of a loved one or another form of deep loss, the people we lead are grieving. As biblical leaders we cannot bury our heads in the sand and ignore the brokenness that people carry. The Bible is not reticent to speak about death. God has no issue with addressing the subject of death. In fact, one might argue that the Bible is given to us as God’s response to the challenge of death. The task at hand is to develop a robust biblical perspective so that we can compassionately care for those under our care who are grieving while sensitively directing people to the redeeming purposes of God. The bible gives us many examples of how not to do this (e.g. Job’s friends) as well as providing guidance on how to mourn with those who mourn (e.g. Jesus with Martha and Mary). Exploring scripture through the lens of uncovering how to lead the grieving is an important journey I encourage all leaders to take.

The second challenge is leading while grieving.

In 1 Peter 1:3, Peter glories in the living hope we have through Christ’s resurrection. In verses 4 and 5 he goes on to underline the promise of this new life, that it is an inheritance that can never spoil or fade and one that is protected by God himself. Nothing and no one can take it from us. Verse 6 starts with rejoicing, before giving us a reality check: ‘Though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials.’ Oh, Peter! Please can we skip that part? Wouldn’t it be nice if we could jump straight from salvation into glory? The implication is clear. No one is immune. As leaders who trust in God’s word, we must prepare ourselves that we too will face griefs of many kinds. This is where the rubber hits the road. How do we continue to lead when we are feeling the sting of death?

Clearly, there is a time when we need to step back and allow God to bring us a measure of healing. I took an extended break from my daily leadership responsibilities when my wife died. However, this phase quickly came to an end, and I needed to learn to lead even with a heavy heart.

George Matheson was a 19th-century pastor and hymn writer. Blind from his youth and having faced grief, loss, and disappointments of many kinds, he was a man who was familiar with the challenges of suffering. He wrote:

‘Many of us would tearlessly deal with our grief if only we were allowed to do it in private, yet what is so difficult is that most of us are called to exercise patience, not in a bed, but in the open street for all to see. We are called upon to bury our sorrows not in restful inactivity but in active service; in our workplace, while shopping and doing social events… No other way of bearing sorrow is as difficult as this, for it is truly what is meant by running with patience.’

Matheson is highlighting the challenge of navigating public and private grief. The only way we can manage this as leaders is to acknowledge that this is a challenge too difficult to bear and learn the same lesson that Jesus taught Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). From this perspective we can boldly state that the world needs to see grieving Christian leaders still lead! Grief does not disqualify us from leadership. Rather, persevering through grief can often result in Christian leaders having a greater impact because they lead from a place of weakness and full reliance on the grace of Jesus. This is counter-cultural, and entirely scriptural.

Having said that, a biblical perspective on grief leads me to understand that we are not meant to carry these burdens alone. The only way I could lead with a heavy heart was through the love and support of close friends who helped me practically and spiritually in numerous ways. As leaders we carry many burdens, including our grief, loss, and failings, therefore it’s imperative that we do not hide these away from others but have a community of praying believers who are standing with us and continually pointing us to Jesus. This is the only way we can still lead while we grieve.

This article has been written to help stimulate thought and conversation around the subject of death and grief. It is not intended to be exhaustive. However, I’d like to point you to my new book, Finding Life After Death: a biblical survivor’s guide which offers a hope-filled view on loss framed by the biblical themes of perspective, pain and purpose.

Please see my website www.griefandgrace.org for more resources and information.

This article was previously published on Biblicalleadership.com

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focus

The Force of Focus (part 1)

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I find one of my most frustrating attributes is how easily distractable I am.

Whether it’s scrolling social media when I’ve set time aside for prayer and to read God’s Word. Or due to having multiple windows open on my PC and flitting from one thing to the next as I manage the various people/initiatives/projects that I’m involved with. Or just an over-active mind mulling over my to-do list so disturbing my family time and keeping me from restful sleep.

In trying to multi-task (something I’ve written about elsewhere) I can compromise my effectiveness and run the risk of doing multiple things badly.

These are fairly superficial examples. There are more nefarious distractions that each of us faces. We can pursue a business opportunity that “seemed too good to be true” because it was! We’re asked to join a board or committee for something that seems a worthy cause but begins to pull us into multiple meetings that don’t fuel our passion. Even some relationships can be distractive as they absorb an inordinate amount of our emotional energy. We get distracted as we pursue multiple good things at the expense of relentlessly pursuing what we’re called to do.

This is something I constantly need to be reminded of. In a world of so much need and opportunity, I can’t be the answer to every problem. The danger is that if I try and accomplish too much, I won’t end up accomplishing anything effectively. As I’ve entered 2024 which promises to be one of my busiest years in quite some time, I’ve been reminded of the powerful force which is focus. And that I need to force myself to focus. That’s why focus is my word for the year.

This is primarily true in my Christian discipleship. I simply have to keep the main thing the main thing. My key Bible verse for 2024 is 2 Corinthians 4:2:

…we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God

The distractions we face as Christian leaders include a propensity to self-indulgence, the pursuit of popularity, and empire-building. These are very real threats that all Christian leaders face. And we’re not going to combat them by engaging in mind-over-matter, positive thinking, or pop-psychology. Our human psyche is far too weak and susceptible to sin. Rather, we need to focus on the truth of God’s word which reveals to us Jesus Christ, the perfect example of what godly leadership looks like. As we focus on him, then we are transformed into leaders who can reflect his glory (see 2 Corinthians 3:18).

And inasmuch as we focus on Jesus, so we become clear on what our calling and mandate is. As servant leaders, we serve our teams and our organisations by ensuring we don’t become distracted from our specific purpose. Father Gregory Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, says: narrowness is the way… our choice is not to focus on the narrow, but to narrow our focus.1

These are the thoughts I’ve started 2024 with. To manage this busy year, I need to keep my focus. As you can imagine, the following words of Richard Blackaby struck me between the eyes when I read them on the Biblical Leadership website early in January:

“One of the keys to effective leadership today is staying focused on what God has called you to do. It’s easy to become so fixated on what others are doing (or not doing) that you fail to complete the assignment God has given you. As you get older, you may find that God reduces your commitments and activities so you have time to focus on your priorities. We need to invest not in what we can do but in what we must do.”2

I’m sure we all read this and agree with these sentiments. In a complex and busy world, we need to focus. But how do we put this into practice? How do we avoid the nefarious distractions that will cause us to invest our time, effort, and resources in the wrong things?

I’m open to suggestions!

But I’ll try and give some practical input on this in part 2 so watch this space!

  1. Gregory Boyle, Tattoos on the Heart, page 31. ↩︎
  2. https://www.biblicalleadership.com/blogs/how-are-distractions-impacting-your-life-and-leadership/ ↩︎
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Effortless Part 4: Struggle and Security

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One of the greatest temptations a leader faces is to live for the applause of people. We long for recognition and seek affirmation. Leadership can easily descend into a popularity contest. Particularly in a digitally connected world, increasing followers on social media seems to preoccupy many a would-be leader (now termed influencer). This often comes at the expense of truly leading. Perhaps this is a contributing factor to the epidemic of leadership bankruptcy seen in the world today.

I have observed that the struggle for popularity often comes from a place of insecurity. Leaders can find their sense of self-worth in their position, title and influence over others. Many leaders, therefore, exert effort in the struggle to maintain power to feel secure in themselves, their vocation and their prosperity.

Christian leaders are not immune to these temptations. Unless our leadership is framed and formed by the cross of Christ, we can operate from a place of insecurity. And insecure leaders can be dangerous to themselves and their followers. They may exert a huge effort to maintain power, not for the good of others, but to fulfil their own lofty goals and ambitions.

In other words, insecure leaders struggle for security.

In this series of articles, I’ve been espousing a counter-cultural approach to Christian leadership that I call the effortless paradigm. In previous articles, we’ve seen that biblically-focused leaders can experience exponential impact as they work while waiting and strive from a posture of surrender.

Effortless leadership does not mean there is no effort. Rather, the effort is applied in a spiritual and biblical direction, enabling the Lord to bring about an abundant harvest which is disproportionate to our effort.

However, that does not mean there is no struggle, but the struggles that Christian leaders face emanate from a position of security, rather than insecurity. The security of Christian leaders is in the knowledge that God so loved them that he sent his Son to die on their behalf and, through believing in Jesus, they are eternally secure. This does not mean that life will be a bed of roses. Struggles will still come. Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean we are immune from the trials of life. The differentiating factor is that the struggles we face are not to maintain power or influence over others. Rather, the struggles are what form us to become more like Christ. And as Christ’s character is formed, then we become more fruitful in our life and leadership.

The best that insecure leaders can hope for is fruit proportional to their effort. They can struggle and toil and perhaps see some fruit for their labours. But at what personal and relational cost?

On the other hand, effortless leaders, secure in their salvation, struggle in a godly manner with things that have immediate and eternal consequences. They are therefore positioned to see fruit that is disproportionate to their efforts which brings much glory to God.

I want to close this mini-series of articles by looking at Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith (Hebrews 12:1) and the prime example for Christian leaders. There is no person in history who has had a greater impact on the world than Jesus Christ. His life, death and resurrection continue to have exponential fruitfulness around the world.

So, what was Jesus’ secret? Remember, he had made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant (Php. 2:7). He was like us in every way… but one. The struggles Jesus faced in his life eclipse anything that we face. From the temptations of the devil, the persecution of religious authorities, the betrayal of his friends, and his death on the cross, Jesus’ life was not free from struggle. Indeed, the bible tells us that he “endured the cross” (Heb. 12:2). This was no walk in the park.

As we consider him, I feel that the key to Jesus’ endurance was that he was perfectly secure in his Father’s love. This security meant he could face and overcome the struggles. Take some time to read John 10:25–30. Jesus concludes that section by stating, “I and the Father are one”. Jesus did not have an identity crisis. Nor did he suffer from an insecurity complex.

One of the greatest demonstrations of servant leadership (and on the eve of his crucifixion) was when Jesus washed the disciple’s feet (this story is the basis of my book, Grab a Towel). John introduces that amazing story by stating:

“Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist” (John 13:3–4).

Jesus’ assurance that his Father was with him and that he was returning to the Father meant he had the strength to serve his disciples, and the resilience to face the ensuing events from Gethsemane to Golgotha.

Jesus also had a perspective beyond the struggles. He anticipated the exponential fruit that would be the result of his endurance. Listen to his words in John 12:24: “Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds.” As the author of Hebrews stated, it was for the joy set before him, that he endured the cross.

As followers of Jesus, do we lead from that same sense of security? Do we lead as secure children of God not swayed by the opinion and opposition of men and women?

I believe this is make or break for us in terms of our effectiveness as leaders. Insecure leaders will constantly fight the wrong battle and struggle for the wrong things. Secure leaders will be able to follow Christ’s example and have a perspective that looks beyond our immediate struggles and sees the fruit that can come through faithful endurance. That perspective enables us to perceive our efforts and struggles as insignificant in comparison to the fruit that will result in our own lives and in the lives of others.

Very specifically, there are three struggles that all Christian leaders will face. We will struggle with sin. We will struggle with spiritual opposition. And we will struggle with self-centredness. The only way we can hope to survive and thrive in our leadership is if we are secure in our identity as new creations in Jesus (2 Cor. 5:17).  Then we will find we do not need to succumb to sin for our loving Father will always provide a way out (1 Cor. 10:13). In our struggle against spiritual attack, we can stand firm and resist evil (Eph. 6:13). And in our struggle with selfish ambition, we will find that we are able to put others first (Php. 2:13).

This is counter-cultural leadership. And the beauty of it is that it’s effortless. When we truly find our security in Christ, it radically shifts our view of success. When the struggles come, our task is primarily to be faithful and obedient to him. We depend on his grace and can leave the results to him. If our struggle results in us dying to ourselves (Gal. 2:20), then we are truly able to see exponential fruit in our lives and leadership. And, with Paul, we’ll be able to say, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Cor. 4:17).

I hope you have enjoyed the Effortless series. I hope to explore this topic further so I would welcome any comments or feedback. To make it an effortless experience, click here to send me a message.

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Effortless Part 3: Strive and Surrender

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I believe that Christian leaders can live with impact beyond their human effort because of the power of God working in and through them. When their focus is on glorifying God, Christian leaders can experience exponential fruit. As we are seeing in this series of articles, it is often in the tension of seeming paradoxes that we find the key to leading with exponential impact.

Luis Palau (1934-2021) was an Argentinian evangelist who shared the Gospel with more than 25 million people in over 70 nations.[1] He embodied the effortless paradigm: he had an exponential impact beyond his human effort which brought much glory to God. In his 2019 book, effectively a memoir written in conversation with Paul J Pastor after he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer, Palau speaks of a point early in his ministry when he had almost burned out and was seeing his labours no longer bear fruit. He shares:

“I had reached the end of my efforts, knowing that for all my trying, I was not really pleasing God. He wanted more than just my natural gifting or commitment. He wanted me. For the first time in my life, I thought that I knew what it might mean to surrender to Him.”[2]

The point where Luis Palau’s ministry began to have an exponential impact was when he reached the end of his own efforts and completely surrendered to God. Surrendering is not normally an image associated with leadership. Surrender is usually seen as a sign of defeat. Modern leadership gurus are reluctant to speak about defeat. This would be seen as a weakness. However, within the effortless paradigm of leadership, we see that surrendering is the key that unlocks true spiritual strength.

Another Christian leader who has a global ministry is Nick Vujicic. Uninhibited by having no arms or legs, Vujicic’s ministry, Life without Limbs, estimates that they have shared the gospel with more than 733 million people since 2005. In his book, Unstoppable, Vujicic helps us understand why surrendering is so critical for Christian leaders who seek to operate in the effortless paradigm:

“Surrendering is about giving up the illusion that you are in the driver’s seat…it is an illusion to think you can determine what happens to you and around you… I believe that when you surrender your life in full, with complete trust and patience, there is another great reward that comes your way: God’s strength… surrender brings strength.”[3]

Therefore, a biblical view of surrendering is that it’s not a passive act of defeat. Rather, it is an active choice to commit oneself fully to Christ. The decision to surrender fully to Jesus is the means through which we receive spiritual strength. As Jesus said, “For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it” (Mt. 16:25).

It is in Paul’s example of leadership that we learn what it means to truly live a surrendered life. Paul was totally surrendered to Jesus. He wrote, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” (Gal. 2:20). Yet in surrendering, he was far from passive. In fact, we could argue that he was the most active Christian who ever lived. From this platform of surrender, Paul was 100% committed to the cause of the gospel. He was driven by the mission God had given him to see the church established and grow in cities across the world, no matter the extreme personal cost.

In Colossians 1:29 Paul says, “To this end I also labor, striving according to His working which works in me mightily” (NKJV). The word translated “striving” is ἀγωνιζόμενος (agōnizomenos) and means to contend and struggle. It is a word denoting competitiveness, taken from the Greek gymnasium and is a root of the English word agonize. This is effort on steroids as Paul contends for the emerging church to come to maturity in the faith.

The harmonising of surrendering and striving fully comes to bear when we understand that Christian striving is not for self-gain but for the cause of the Gospel. Christian leaders’ lives are surrendered to a cause beyond themselves, and they strenuously pursue this mission. Heidi Baker, a missionary to Mozambique who has had an exponential global impact through her ministry, says,

“None of us should want to build our own ministries – that is the opposite of what God called us to. We are called in love and meekness to establish God’s kingdom on Earth.”[4]

Contemporary secular leaders may strive for personal success or even a worthy cause. They may make tremendous sacrifices for the noble cause they choose to live for. But what should set Christian leaders apart is that our striving flows from a surrendered life. And when we strive for the glory of God, then, just like Palau, Vujicic and Paul (and countless other women and men throughout history), we can experience exponential fruit for Christ. When we see that fruit, we will realise that our role has been effortless because it has been the “energy of Christ so powerfully working in and through me” (Col. 1:29b NIV) that has accomplished fruit for the kingdom of God.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Palau

[2] Palau: A Life on Fire with Paul J Pastor. 2019, Zondervan, Grand Rapids: MI.

[3] Unstoppable: The Incredible Power of Faith in Action. Nick Vujicic. 2012. WaterBrook Press, Colorado Springs CO.

[4] Compelled by Love. Heidi Baker. 2008. Charisma House Book Group. Florida.

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Effortless Part 2: Working While Waiting

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In the first article of this series, I introduced the effortless paradigm. This is the sweet spot of effective leadership, where God’s abundant blessing ensures that the fruit of our labours is exponentially disproportionate to the effort. This is a counter-cultural approach to leadership because it causes us to recognise that leadership is not about me.

Rather, fruitful leadership is proportionate to our dependence on God. However, that does not mean we are idle. We are called to partner with God and play the part he is calling us to play within his cosmic mandate. Therefore, I concluded the first article by proposing that the key to having an exponential impact through our life and leadership is learning to live in the biblical paradoxes of waiting and working; striving and surrender; struggle and security. We start by considering how Christian leadership requires both waiting on God while working for God.

I remember the night with absolute clarity. I lay in my bed somewhat panic-stricken. Anxiety was crippling my mind as I came to terms with the long-term impact of the diagnosis I’d received. Although not life-threatening, chronic fatigue syndrome meant I was facing an uncertain future. I had been quite severely debilitated and in pain for some months. As a 19-year-old young man, hard-wired to be an activist-achiever, I struggled to understand God’s purpose in allowing me to have a prolonged illness when I should be entering the prime of life. In my confusion, I cried out to God.

It’s always hard to describe the deepest spiritual encounters with God. Sometimes words are insufficient and I’ve always found it almost impossible to explain how God met with me on my bed of illness and anxiety that night. It literally felt like a blanket of love was placed around me to comfort me. And I experienced absolute peace that God was in control. He assured me that this was part of his plan and purpose for me. Through this encounter, he transformed my perspective. I realised that God’s love for me was not conditional on what I could do for him. Even if I spent the rest of my life unable to do things for him (e.g., run the youth group, lead the sports ministry I’d started, even attend church), that didn’t change how he felt about me.

Over the next couple of years, as I began to recover from the illness, I recognised that my activity for God needed to emanate from this revelation that God loved me unconditionally. My doing was not to earn his favour, rather it was an act of worshipful gratitude for his love and all he had done for me. It’s a lesson God has had to remind me of countless times since.

For so many leaders, our identity is wrapped up in our work and activity. We find our value and sense of worth in the work of leadership. The danger in this is that there is a very fine line between working for God out of love for him and working for God to earn his approval. When seeking to earn his approval, we will operate from our own efforts rather than dependence on the Holy Spirit. We may experience some short-term success but it is unlikely that we will see lasting fruit or experience exponential impact beyond our labour (see 1 Cor. 3:12–15).

Effortless leadership, on the other hand, starts from the position of obeying the biblical instruction to wait on God (given consistently to leaders throughout scripture e.g., Ex. 14:14, Ps. 37:9, Ps. 40:1, Hab. 2:3, Mt. 14:23, 2 Pet. 3:8–10). Our identity and sense of self-worth should not be wrapped up in our work and accomplishments. It is rather intrinsically connected to our position as sons and daughters of God (Rom. 8:15–17). The posture of waiting on God is consistently presented in scripture as the appropriate starting point for all effective and fruitful ministry. Waiting on God is essential to counteract the temptation to focus on success, numbers, profit or any other metrics related to our work for him.

However, the biblical counsel to wait on God does not call us to a life of disengagement from the world. Instead, waiting on God provides the impetus for our work, recognising there is a biblical mandate upon us to work hard for the cause of the Gospel. Jesus himself instructs us; “As long as it is day, we must do the works of him who sent me” (John 9:4).

The nineteenth-century South African pastor and church statesman, Andrew Murray, oversaw a spiritual renewal which started in the small town of Wellington and went on to have a global impact. Murray worked tirelessly with incredible zeal and passion as a pastor and evangelist. Through his example and his writings, there has been exponential fruit far beyond his effort by which God continues to receive much glory. I feel that the secret to his fruitfulness was that he understood how to live in the tension between waiting and working. Among his many writings, he wrote two small devotional guides. The first was called, Waiting on God and the second, Working for God. In the introduction to the second volume, he harmonises the states of waiting and working by stating the following:

“Waiting on God has its value in that it makes us strong in work for God… as waiting on God lies at the root of all true working for God, so working for God must be the fruit of all true waiting on Him.” (Andrew Murray, Working for God, p. 1–2).[1]

The apostle Paul was another man of action. Following his dramatic conversion, he worked tirelessly to extend the Gospel around the world. However, he didn’t define his success by virtue of his hard work. Rather, he defined it as follows: “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them – yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me”. (1 Cor. 15:10).

Paul’s work for God flowed out of God’s work in him. Paul’s dependence on God’s grace came as he waited on God and discovered that God’s grace alone was sufficient for him (2 Cor. 12:9). However, that led him to work tirelessly, instructing us to do the same (e.g., 1 Cor. 15:58).

Waiting on God in order to work for God is the antidote to seeking salvation by merit. It is also the antidote for leaders whose self-worth is tied up in their productivity. By grace, God has chosen us for “good works which he has prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10).

It’s not a choice between waiting or working. The Christian life is an inextricable combination of these two states of being: we wait and work; we work while waiting. Sometimes there are seasons where the emphasis is on waiting on God. There are other seasons of incredibly productive work. The temptation for leaders is to keep working without ever waiting. Therefore, in this area, I advise we need to afford ourselves extra accountability in order that we can see God work mightily through us, meaning that we’ll see our work is effortless in comparison to the exponential fruit harvested for the kingdom.

[1] See www.grabatowel.site/2023/07/26/working-while-waiting-leadership-gems-from-andrew-murray/ for more helpful quotes from these books.

Ice skating

Effortless: Leading with Exponential Impact

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This is the first in a series of four articles. I want to develop this theme into a book. Please send any feedback to [email protected]

We settled down as a family in great anticipation. It was 1984 and I was nine years old. The Sarajevo Winter Olympics were in full flow. As a British family there wasn’t much to cheer for. We didn’t have great skiers, bobsledders or speed skaters. However, we did have our sights on one gold medal; figure-skaters, Jane Torvill and Christopher Dean carried the hopes of a nation desperate for success as they took to the ice for their final routine. We held our collective breath for the next few minutes as Torvill and Dean glided around the rink with flawless synchronisation to the evocative tones of the song Boléro. Upon completion, the crowd showered flowers on the ice in appreciation of the perfection they displayed. The judges sealed the historic moment by rewarding them with the highest scores ever achieved by figure skaters. In our house, and across the nation, we marvelled at how effortless they made it seem.

The perception of effortlessness was only accomplished because they had put in years of hard work. When they received their gold medals they embodied a philosophy of the modern era: effort = rewards.

This philosophy has shaped the 10,000 hours mantra that became popular in the early 21st century through the writing of Michael Gladwell. Following his theory, former international table tennis player, Matthew Syed, writes.

“the path to excellence… is steep, gruelling, and arduous. It is inordinately lengthy, requiring a minimum of ten thousand hours of lung-busting effort to get to the summit.” (Syed, Bounce, 2010:168).

It is easy to see how this approach to life has been embraced by 21st Century Christian leaders. Schooled in the Protestant ethic of hard work and imbibed within the cultural climate of the constant pursuit of success, the goals of most Christian leaders don’t often appear much different from their unbelieving counterparts. It is not uncommon for this philosophy to also encroach on our ministry, believing that our results are determined by a combination of our giftedness and effort.

Superficially, it may appear there is nothing wrong with these ideals. Yet, I have some nagging questions. What if the results we are seeing in our lives are a fraction of what God has for us? What if we are merely leading a merry dance of performance-based Christianity, akin to secular ambition? What if the way we disciple people is leading them to greater dependence on themselves rather than the Holy Spirit? What if life in Christ is meant to be different from the simple equation of success being directly proportional to the amount of effort we put in?

I believe it’s time to rethink how we view the success-based (Western-influenced) worldview, particularly in relation to how we approach leadership. We need to have our minds renewed (Romans 12:2). I believe that we are called to lead with exponential impact that is disproportionate to our efforts. In fact, Scripture doesn’t use the language of success but of fruitfulness. The source of fruitfulness is not our effort, but reliance on the Holy Spirit. In this paradigm, the end goal is not popularity and plaudits, but Spirit-inspired, God-exalting worship.

I believe this approach to life and leadership emanates throughout the whole of the bible. The scene is set in Genesis. From the mandate to Adam and Eve to be fruitful and multiply (Genesis 1:28), through to God’s promise to Abraham that his descendants would be countless, and a blessing to the whole world (Genesis 12:2-3). Then in Genesis 26:12, we see a physical example of the effortless principle in action where the Lord blesses Isaac and provides him with a life-changing hundredfold harvest. The language here provides the context for Jesus’ promise that those who receive the good seed of the Gospel will produce a crop… “some thirty, some sixty, some a hundred times what was sown” (Mark 4:20). Jesus is clearly not talking about personal prosperity but about Kingdom fruitfulness. The fruit was disproportionate to the effort because it is based upon receiving and believing the Word! As Jesus went on to say in John 15:8, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

I describe this approach to leadership as the effortless paradigm. It’s not that there is no effort on our part. Rather, the fruit is disproportionate to our effort to the extent that, when observing what is happening, we have to admit that we played a minor role which, in reality, was effortless. The effortless paradigm is embodied in the beautiful promise of Isaiah 60:22, “The least of you will become a thousand and the smallest a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this swiftly.”

The effortless paradigm is a counter-cultural approach to life, ministry and leadership which starts with laying down our own selfish ambition and committing to a life of Gospel ambition. When we look at this objectively, who wouldn’t want to live effortlessly? When we operate in the success paradigm, it leads to the all-too-common results of exhaustion, frustration, anxiety, stress and burnout. But when we live a Spirit-empowered life that is dependent upon Christ, it enables us to have a sustained impact for the long haul.

I believe that this is what Jesus meant when he referred to the abundant life in John 10:10. It is also the kind of faith that Paul exhorts us to have as we trust in God who can do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, because His power works within us (Ephesians 3:20).

This should be our testimony to the world; that the fruitfulness of our lives is not dependent on how smart we are or how much effort we have had to put in. Rather, the fruit is disproportionate to our effort and therefore, by comparison, it is effortless because all fruitfulness is a gift of God’s grace and declares his glory. Richard Foster put it like this,

“…one of the clearest signs of the grace of God upon us is when the results of our labour are far in excess of the amount of work we do” (Foster 1992:183).

So, what am I advocating then? Is the Christian life a spectator sport where we sit and observe God at work while we laze around? Not at all! In the next few articles, I want to explore three paradoxes of effortless leadership which are tensions that we live with as those on mission with Jesus. It is in the seeming paradoxes of waiting and working; striving and surrender; struggle and security that we find the sweet spot for Kingdom fruitfulness.

waiting and working

Working while Waiting: Leadership Gems from Andrew Murray

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I’ve recently read two books by Andrew Murray: Waiting on God and Working for God.

Christ-centered servant leaders live in the paradox of these two biblical truths. We know that having a posture of waiting on God is essential if we are to be empowered to lead as Jesus did. After all, Jesus often retreated to lonely places to pray and actively waited on God. However, we also recognise that we are called to work and to be fruitful in our service to God. Jesus himself exemplified the balance between waiting on God and working for God: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I too am working… Very truly I tell you, The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.” (see John 5:16-19).

And then Jesus counsels us in John 15:7-8: “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

To follow Jesus’ example we have to wait, rely and remain in intimate relationship with him in order that we can partner with the Godhead in their work on earth. This is the key to bearing much fruit for the Kingdom. In his two books, Murray manages the tension of this paradox with great practical wisdom. As he says, “Our great need is to hold the two sides of the truth in perfect conjunction and harmony.” (Murray 2018:2).

I hope that these quotes inspire you to consider more deeply how you can be a leader who works while waiting.

Quotes from Waiting on God

“If salvation indeed comes from God, and is entirely His work, just as creation was, it follows, as a matter of course, that our first and highest duty is to wait on Him to do the work that pleases Him” (location 41).

“waiting on God is just as indispensable, and must be just as continuous and unbroken, as the breathing that maintains his natural life” (location 59).

“In waiting upon God, the first thought is of the God upon whom we wait. We enter His presence, and feel we need just to be quiet. So that He, as God, can overshadow us with Himself” (location155).

“A soul cannot seek close fellowship with God, or attain the abiding consciousness of waiting on Him all the day, without a very honest and entire surrender to all His will” (location 257).

“All the exercises of the spiritual life, our reading and praying, our willing and doing, have their very great value. But they can go no farther than this, that they point the way and prepare us in humility to look to and to depend alone upon God Himself, and in patience to wait His good time and mercy” (location 401).

“Patience then becomes our highest blessedness and our highest grace. It honours God, and gives Him time to have His way with us. It is the highest expression of our faith in His goodness and faithfulness” (location 503).

“In our church worship, in our prayer meetings, in our conventions, in all our gatherings as managers, or directors, or committees, or helpers in any part of the work for God, our first object ought ever to be to ascertain the mind of God” (location 544).

“If you want to fully know the goodness of God, give yourself more than ever to a life of waiting on Him” (location 861).

“What our faith needs is – more of God” (location 879).

“The more work, the more need of waiting upon God” (location 881).

“A holy, joyful expectancy is of the very essence of true waiting” (location 934).

Quotes from Working for God

“Waiting on God has its value in that it makes us strong in work for God” (p. 1).

“waiting has working as its objective” (p. 2).

“Christ’s church and the world suffer terribly today, not only because many of its members are not working for God, but also because so much working for God is done without waiting on God” (p. 3).

“Every believer is to live wholly for God’s service and work” (p. 12).

“The true Christian is one who knows God’s power working in him and finds his true joy when the life of God flows into him, and through him, and out from him to those around him” (p. 20).

“Work is the great factor by which the hidden beauty and the divine possibilities of the Christian life are brought out” (p. 28).

“As worthless as our works are in procuring salvation, so infinite is their worth for what God has created and prepared for us” (p. 41).

“Obey the command to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Believe in His indwelling. Wait for His teaching. Yield to His leading. Pray for His might working. Live in the Spirit” (p. 48).

“Humility and love – these are the two great virtues of the saint; they are the two great powers for the work of ministry” (p. 69).

“Humility makes us willing to serve; love makes us wise to know how to do it” (p. 69).

“The secret of true work involves a personal relationship with Christ, an entire surrender to His disposal, a dependent waiting to be used by Him, and a joyful confidence that He will use us” (p. 88).

“Doing is the very essence of blessedness, the highest expression, and therefore, the fullest enjoyment of the life of God” (p. 125).

“Praying and working are inseparable. Let all who work learn to pray well. Let all who pray learn to work well” (p. 136).

“The more you depend on God alone for your strength, the more He will be glorified. The more you seek to make God’s purpose your purpose, the more you will be led to submit to His working and His strength and love” (p. 146).

Andrew Murray 1828-1917

Andrew Murray: Working for God. Aneko Press Christian Classics. 2018.

Andrew Murray, Waiting on God. Andrew Murray Books. 2018 Kindle edition.

Each of these books is a 31 days devotional study and ideal to work through in a month. I highly recommend digging into some of Andrew Murray’s writing. I’ve found it very relevant to many of the challenges of leadership we face in the 21st century.

GrabATowel-5

Grab a Towel 2nd Edition

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The paperback version of the 2nd Edition of Grab a Towel is now available from Amazon.

This edition has been updated and also includes a new fourth section: the Grab a Towel Interaction Guide. The Guide includes self-study questions and a group discussion guide.

CLICK HERE to purchase your copy on Amazon today.

The Kindle and Audible version is also available. If you have already read the book, then please consider rating and leaving a review.

This is what one reader had to say about Grab a Towel:

I poured into this book for the past few weeks. Leading like Jesus just makes sense to me. He built the Christian Church by starting with twelve disciples and now it has millions. I want to have a company that gets better and better with age. I found the chapter on “Giving Power Away” quite compelling and the opposite of what I have witnessed in many companies. It is compelling because it allows leaders to move more work into the management ranks and let’s leaders stop doing and let’s leaders lead. A must read.

Chris Gurreri

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