Our lives should completely focused on the person of Jesus Christ. He is the central character in everything that’s happened and all that will be. He is the reason we do all that we do. As leaders, we want to hold the door for the next generation to rush in and experience who Jesus is.
The time is now for us to process, to live out, to move out, to do something, to take action. What is your destination? Thomas Merton said, ““Your life is a shaped by the end you live for. You are made in the image of what you desire.” Whatever you are living for is shaping your heart. Whatever we pursue makes us in its own image. We must determine to know and reflect the face of Jesus.
Two Essential Things We Find on the Face of Jesus Christ
1 – Matchless beauty and magnificence – it’s what we were all made for. His face is what we were made for. The beauty and magnificence that is on His face is what our souls were made for. Our souls weren’t made for temporal things. We were made to adore, appreciate and drink in the wonder of the beauty of the face of Jesus.
“God formed us for His pleasure, and so formed us that we as well as He can in divine communion enjoy the sweet and mysterious mingling of kindred personalities. He meant us to see Him and live with Him and draw our life from His smile.” – A.W. Tozer
May our churches be one again filled with the magnificence of God. If you want a beautiful, generous, good, true, pure, whole, healed, happy, awake heart? It’s in the face of Jesus and in making the face of Jesus the end of you. The psalmist in Psalm 115 says, “Not to us, but to your name be the glory.” What’s your highest prize and highest goal in life?
2 – The Confidence and the Courage to Be the Leaders We Need to Be
When you see Jesus’ face you quickly learn it’s not about you. You see He is the head of the Church and it’s all for Him and all about Him. You get confident when you see that He is the Head. Colossians 1:15-21 reflects this message. God inspires little leaders to be courageous and bold as we seek to win the world for His fame.
Where’s the courage? What do we have to be afraid of if we’ve seen the face of God? Our Church has an unstoppable head. We can die under a load of stress or look up to the face of Jesus. Leadership is not about getting ahead, it’s about the fact that the church already has one!
That should give us confidence to do crazy things for Christ We should never embarrass Him by saying, “I don’t think we can do that…” because He can do it. It’s not something you learn by reading a book, it’s something you learn by seeing His face.
Extreme Makeover Home Edition is predicated on the words: MOVE THAT BUS!
When the bus moves you don’t see the house first…When the bus moves you see their faces. You see the face of people who have been living in horrible conditions. Now they have a home. They are in shock and in awe. You see the tears and wonder on their faces. Then, you see the house. What you see first is the house on their face.
We live in a world that can’t quite see Jesus, the beauty of the Gospel and the Church… they are looking at us, and we have to have been with Jesus, because our faces reflect Him. Our faces must reflect His glory. Then the world can say, “we found God on your face.”
That’s leadership.
It’s knowing Jesus and reflecting face on ours to the world.
How Do You Get There?
Go into the closet. Close the door. Humble yourself. Open your heart and wait. God is waiting for us there. Jesus had 1,059 days of ministry on earth… and when He got on His mark, set, and go… He went into the wilderness for 40 days.
I want to do what I see Him doing and say what I hear Him saying.
Notes taken by timschraeder.com.