Be Brave.
That’s the entire title of the speech I’ve been giving this past month as I travel.
The how I often have to leave unsaid
How? Because He’s got it.
The Bible is clear on this point. All the stuff, the external metrics we’re so obsessed with living up to every day even though they keep changing, becomes irrelevant in light of the Scripture. Once the measuring stick is gone, it’s tremendously freeing for a leader.
I couldn’t be free, or brave, without the cornerstone of my faith.
This is where I hang my metaphorical hat:
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Eph. 2:8-10
In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Phil. 1:4-6
Did you catch that? Three simple, freeing, promises:
1. We are His work.
2. He created us to do good works that He already has PREPLANNED.
3. And He will carry out His good work in us.
External forces will always tell us there is a new barometer by which we must measure success. Right? Facebook changes its publicity policy faster than anyone can track. The networking technique of today turns changes to the branding yourself tool of tomorrow. That six figure salary won’t put a single kid in private school while you juggle your mortgage and car payment.
The money is never enough. The promotion doesn’t buy satisfaction. The plastic surgery, social media, luxury handbag or SUV, the front page headline, the publication, the big award, they never provide freedom. They just provide more pressure. To do the next big thing. To surpass your last achievement.
But. God.
Endless freedom. Stable assurance. They form the foundation for a lifetime of brave leadership.
God wants you to succeed more than you do. He just wants you to succeed differently. {===> Click To Tweet}
He wants you to see that you are beautiful and loved and forgiven and a conqueror because HE created you.
He wants you to fulfill all the good works He has preplanned and stored up for you. He’s just waiting for you to ask the simple question:
What God?
Where God?
When God?
How God?
Then He will carry out that good work to COMPLETION. That’s right, all those good works will be done beyond anything we could have imagined for ourselves (Eph. 3) because He’s doing it. We just have to go where He says.
Do you know how bravely you can lead when the pressure is off of YOU?
The pressure is on Him.
You just get to say, “okay, let’s roll,” and everything else is up to Him. We follow where we’re supposed to go even if it feels NUTS. Even if it’s antithetical to the way everyone says we’re supposed to do it. The world says, “write a blog about only one topic if you ever want to succeed.” God says, “mmm, no, I want you to write about a dozen things, none of them related, and any one of which might turn off the people who read the other thing.” Crazy, right? But SO freeing. The world says, “speak more and more and take the bigger promotion and salary and do it bigger and bolder.” God says, “why don’t you just stay quiet for a while, and wait on the promotion, and hang out with neighbors instead.” Are you kidding me? Oh, but how much more fun is it to do it the crazy way.
A girlfriend recently said, “I can’t get over how fun this is. This following Him in the ways He takes me and doing the things I used to be way too scared to do. Can you believe how He is using this simple act of obedience? It’s nuts. And so fun!”
If are ready for a wild brave leadership ride, then spend a little time each morning asking God those simple questions and then head out wherever He leads. It will be scary and fun and nerve-racking and breathtaking and unexpected. He’s leading, so we can be brave!