Faith, leadership, & politics are intertwined. They are like grapevines that may, or may not, produce good fruit. And they are like roots of trees that are either nourished by Living Water or dehydrated by lack of it.
Jesus said, “Follow me.” His leadership inspires followers to love God and one another, to show compassion, mercy, to seek justice, wisdom, and peace. He demonstrated all of these leadership traits and more. He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us to lead in His way.
Godly leadership looks and feels and tastes like the Living Water Jesus provided to the Samaritan Woman. It bridges divides, embraces diversity and inclusion, and empowers.
Just as we can see the Spirit in Jesus’s leadership, we can assess the presence of the Spirit in one another. We simply have to observe actions and words and allow the Holy Spirit to lead us to discern the presence of the Spirit.
Is the leader producing good fruit? What actions do they inspire? What do they leave in their wake- confusion? Division? Exclusion?
Poor leadership dehydrates. It sucks the life from people and organizations. It creates division, exclusion, and unhealthy power structures. Poor leaders breed fear and distrust instead of motivation and courage.
“But we are called to pray for our leaders!” Yes. We can simultaneously pray for them -and- admit that we have a leadership vacuum in our government -and- acknowledge that some of our leaders are clearly spiritually bankrupt.
“But God will use our leaders for good!” Perhaps. And “good” may not be what we expect. Good may look like the toppling of unhealthy power structures. It may look like more inclusion and less exclusion. It may look like political unrest and upheaval.
Taken from Steven Noble’s Illustrations, Old Grapevine Roots (unknown site/location)
Faith, leadership, & politics are intertwined. They are like grapevines that may, or may not, produce good fruit. And they are like roots of trees that are either nourished by Living Water or dehydrated by lack of it.