DGT Episode 351 - Steward And Witness - What Priests Can Teach Us Part 1

From 1979 to 2005 Pope John Paul II had the custom of writing a letter to all the priests in the Catholic world on the occasion of Holy Thursday.  The letters are a treasury of wisdom and insight into leadership and all leaders of denomination or state in life can find insight here.  In this beginning of our next session on “What Can Priests Teach Us?”, we discover our own role as stewards and witnesses.

The life of King Solomon provides many inspiring examples for leaders to follow.  At the same time it details some of the warning signs for Christian leaders to avoid.  In this final segment of our treatment of his life we look at the legacy that his choices left.  It’s a good way for us to remember the legacy that our own choices will leave behind us.  Leadership just like anything else is not just about what happens now but about how what we do now will impact generations to come.

The life of King Solomon is exceptional in many ways.  From his virtue to his success to his covenant with God, the life of King Solomon serves as a great example and inspiration for Christian leaders.  Nevertheless, not everything about the life of this great king is admirable.  Like all of us he had faults and failings.  And because he did not deal with them effectively these became the source of his downfall.  And in his failure as much as his victory we can also learn how to lead.

It is said by many that success can be harder to cope with than failure.  Certainly this was true for King Solomon.  The incredible success we read about in first Kings 9 and 10 is only the prelude to his incredible downfall.  But what a prelude it is.  What does God want us to learn from it?  In this our fifth segment on King Solomon, I examine the weight of success and the call for Christian leaders not only to achieve it but to live it like saints.

In the first book of Kings, the Word of God details the fact that King Solomon built the temple in which God lived.  What is said here in a very matter of fact and simple fashion has profound implications for the way that we view the work of our hands.  In this fourth part of our series on King Solomon we allow the life and example of the good king to challenge our own perspectives about our work and the ability we have to bring faith into our business.

The life of King Solomon was truly extraordinary.  Gifted with outstanding wisdom, King Solomon’s wisdom blessed Israel with outstanding abundance.  And even though everything in his life was not worthy of imitation, the Bible is careful to record that he used his gifts to build the temple of God.  This might surprise us.  Why would God want his leader to dedicate himself to building a temple?  It’s a question that opens us to a deeper understanding of our own leadership today.

Amongst the many notable lives of leaders brought to us in the Bible, the life of King Solomon stands out.  Not everything in his life is worthy of imitation, but other aspects of his life seem clearly to indicate the plan of God for us.  And one of those aspects in particular is the benefits that God shows for those who possess wisdom.  In this our second episode on King Solomon we look at the benefits of Godly wisdom in his life and compare it to the wisdom we find in Christ.

For anyone reading the Bible looking for an example of leadership, the life of King Solomon stands out as a must read.  Not everything that he did was exemplary, in fact much of what he did was problematic.  And yet still, God writes straight with crooked lines.  And looking at his life as it’s given us can teach us lessons both good and bad.  Things to do and things to avoid in our own leadership.  We begin our series on King Solomon by looking at his prayer for a listening heart.

Of there is one common denominator across all societies and all times, it’s that human beings have to work.  From finding the necessities of survival to advancing technology to a new level.  Regardless of the many ways it can manifest itself, the imperative to work is common to all of us.  Does these mean, however, that our lives are constrained to difficulty and toil?  What about work benefits us and makes us good?

Can power be a pathway to holiness?  It’s a provocative question, mostly because of the ways we view power today.  But what if I asked it differently?  What if I said, “Could leading others like a servant of Christ make you holy?”  Most of us would then say, “Absolutely.”  The way that we view leadership has a lot to do with how we exercise it.  In this second part of our series I try to unpack for us how leadership, in fact, is a practical truth.