EYES UP

Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.

-Judges 7:6

Recently, a friend of mine shared an article on social media titled, “What CEO’s are reading.” The article lists titles like Unbeatable Mind, Extreme Ownership, The Gifts of Imperfection, et.al.

Some time ago, on a church mission trip, one of the trip-goers spent virtually every waking moment reading. When someone inquired about the habit, they quickly responded, “Leaders are readers!”

Since Christianity, at its very heart, is an exercise in faithfully obedient and effective leadership, there are some parallels to be drawn and truths uncovered here.

Secular leadership is largely ignorant of its own evolution. Principles and methodology established by Jesus (i.e. altruism, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, respect, equality, et. al.) from the foundation of the world are periodically discovered, readily touted, and subsequently perverted for the purpose of personal gain. Covey tells us what the “7 Habits” are, and Carnegie tells us how to leverage them, but does anyone bother to explore the why?

There was a time when the guy with the biggest club was the leader. Not much has changed. Just exchange “bank account” or “influence” for “club” in the line above. In the business world, where CEO’s can no longer get away with clubbing people into submission, a new “acceptable” approach was needed to secure and maintain authority, manipulate people and surroundings, and ultimately achieve personal success and security.

That’s where Covey's and Carnegie's contributions enter into the picture. They glean just enough truth from the wellspring to be dangerous, but let's not bother ourselves with drinking deeply. The Bernie Madoffs of the world aren’t truly ridiculed or despised for their goals - or even their methods - but rather their stupidity for getting caught.

“A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring: There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain, And drinking largely sobers us again.”

-Alexander Pope

Some years ago a friend gave me a book titled, “Leading From the Second Chair.” My primary takeaway from the work is this: In ministry, leadership, love, and life we only have two things - 1) what we say and 2) what we do. Failure is when the two don’t line up. Reading about leadership - and actually leading - aren't the same thing. On one extreme is selfish gain, while on the other is serving as a human doormat.

It is the pattern of our contemporary, reverse-engineered, age which touts “Leaders are readers.” We want to know what the powerbrokers and top CEO’s are reading as if (by osmosis, study, or magical enchantment) doing so will somehow endow us with Wonka’s Golden Ticket to the top.

One miscalculated extrapolation is this: we wrongly surmise “Reading is leading.” Leadership is a means to an end. The question Covey, Carnegie, and countless other authors never bother to explore or answer is “Why” or “To what end?” Jim Collins summarized great leadership as one who "Builds enduring greatness through a paradoxical combination of personal humility and professional will."

Zig Ziglar once said, “Since belief determines behavior, doesn’t it make sense that we should be teaching ethical, moral values in every home and in every school in America?” In reality, we do precisely that! The problem isn’t whether or not we teach them, but rather the fickle subjectivity associated with contemporary ethics and popular morality: gay marriage, gender ambiguity, coexistence, sharia law, pedophilia, personal entitlement...

The behavior of leaders eventually exposes their underlying beliefs. When provided the opportunity to serve without recognition or reward, how do we respond? Are we reading in order to train ourselves to identify opportunities of humble service, or are we only looking for selective opportunities - ones to propel our careers or advance personal agenda?

In the book of Judges, we read about a man named Gideon. When God called Gideon to lead the nation of Israel, the nation God had ordained as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” for the specific purpose of redeeming fallen humanity and reconciling us ALL with our Creator, Gideon replied, “Pardon me, my lord, but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” Through faith, obedience, and situational awareness Gideon advanced God’s will and Kingdom.

At one point in Gideon’s ministry, God wanted to demonstrate His sovereignty and providence in conquering the Midianites. Logic and wisdom would typically dictate overwhelming your enemy if possible, but God said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’” God reduced Gideon’s army of 22,000 to a mere 300 through a process of elimination, and in Judges 7:6 we read:

“Three hundred of them drank from cupped hands, lapping like dogs. All the rest got down on their knees to drink.”

The 300 who “drank from cupped hands,” were altogether situationally aware. Those were the men God selected as ambassadors of His sovereignty, harbingers of divine providence, and heralds of His missional Kingdom. It was those men whose eyes remained up, scanning the horizon, and ever watchful whom God used to secure victory against Midian.

“A little learning is a dangerous thing; Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring."

Reading isn’t leading, it’s reading. Leaders are much more than bibliophiles. Leaders are those with word and action in harmonious synchronicity. True leaders are humbly obedient and situationally aware servants of Christ. Scripture warned and prophesied against the posers and self-absorbed "false shepherds." The self-promoting situationally oblivious religious leaders of Jesus’ day (Scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and Teachers of the Law) were avid readers as well. To them, Jesus had this to say in John 5:36-40:

...the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form, nor does his word dwell in you, for you do not believe the one he sent. You study the Scriptures diligently because you think that in them you have eternal life. These are the very Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.

Like the shallow-drinking, principle-extracting, situation-manipulating, self-promoting and private agenda-advancing Covey and Carnegie disciples of today - Israel’s religious leaders missed the whole point. It was never about self-promotion, power, prestige, position, or personal gain.

Like those whom Jesus rebuked, we now study synthetic scriptures by false prophets and shepherds because we think that in them we will find abundant life. Meanwhile, we reject any personal investment or commitment to the actual Book that testifies about Him. In doing so, as He said to the hypocrites of His day, we refuse to come to Him to have life.

So what are you reading and, more importantly, why are you reading it? Is it to gain a leg up on the competition or is it to become a better steward, servant, and situationally aware follower of Christ? Do you really need another leadership book or Bible Study? Or do you simply need to obediently and faithfully practice what you already know as truth?

The Bible tells us, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” What else do we need to know? Jesus’ brother, James, wrote, “If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing right.”

Are you loving like that?

The only way possible is with eyes up.

Blessings,

-Kevin M. Kelley

aMostUnlikelyDisciple.com