Love

Love

Give me your love for these people. Love them through me.

Let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. 1 John 4:7

No one should support or follow a leader who does not truly love him. No one should attempt to lead people he does not care about.

HOW I have come to love these people, God! I care about them with an extraordinary love that is far beyond myself. I do not profess to understand the passion I feel for their welfare, their development, their success, their reputation. What a priceless treasure you have given me—this joy, this privilege of loving them like this. It overflows in me and gilds my whole life.

Strange, in a way, to love them like this, because they can drive me crazy. I suffer with all their faults every day, magnified by the pressures of the performance standards and corporate goals we all agreed to. They question me, challenge me, ignore me, and resist me. They act like children when I do not ask their advice, and like infants if I do not follow it.

Yet see how gloriously they shine! How amazing they are, expertly accomplishing the special purposes that their unique talents and spiritual gifts enable them to fulfill. How smoothly they coordinate their labor. What marvels of creativity they fashion each day. See the deft skills they apply to meet real human needs. And see how they push themselves to grow, to be ever better. How beautifully they serve the noble calling of your kingdom. Magnificent, God, absolutely magnificent!

You showed them to me. You taught me how to see who they really are, to see them as you do. And whenever I see them your way, your love always overwhelms me and pours out toward them. To open my eyes, you first love me. And as I feel your Spirit loving me, I can’t help wanting whatever makes them more like you.

I love them for making me their leader. They have blessed me with their trust after I was wrong and with their encouragement when I was weary. They have carried me when I was injured and taught me what I needed to know in order to lead them well. They have respected me and forgiven my failures. They have protected my reputation and called me their friend. They have loved me.

I love them. But just my love would never be enough. They need and deserve much more. With all my heart and strength I pray . . .

Give me your love for these people. Love them through me.

Reflections

I have led, and I have followed, and in both roles I have loved and been loved. First Corinthians 13:13 says, “There are three things that will endure—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love.” One of the truths I have come to see in light of this verse is that love, having once been expressed, never completely goes away. Love changes us permanently because we become new people from living the adventure together.

The other truth of this verse that informs leadership is that loving people is eternal. In heaven we will no longer need faith or hope. We will experience fully what on earth we only believed in and hoped for. But in heaven we will go on loving and being loved. Love remains forever.

I have concluded, therefore, that leadership and followership are both about loving people, as they are and as they could be. But even more, the people who have followed my leadership have taught me that the essence of leadership is taking the risk of letting myself be loved however the followers choose to love me. It takes spiritual courage to experience leadership love this way, but by God’s grace, through sincere prayer, it is possible.