Has your leadership drifted by subtle compromises? (105-1)

A Christian leader’s life is evaluated not only by how they start but by how they finish. Read 2 Kings 9:1-10:36.

Jehu was a man with a mission. Jehu led brilliantly in fulfilling God’s commands. No sooner was he anointed king than he gathered his troops and set out to obey God’s command (9:7). Quickly and efficiently he embraced divine instructions to destroy the house of Ahab and the worship of Baal. He even laid waste to Baal’s temple and everything in it. The Bible tells us that God commended Jehu for carrying out His mission.

Jehu started out well, but he went too far. Not only did he destroy the house of Ahab, but he also killed Ahab’s “Chief men, his close friends and his priests, leaving him no survivor” (10:11). Political self-interest took over his desire and prompted the last killings. God praised Jehu’s obedience in carrying out His judgment on the house of Ahab but condemned Jehu’s refusal to turn away from the sins of a former leader, Jeroboam (10:30-31), and condemned Jehu for his ruthless killings beyond His instruction: “I will soon punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel” (Hosea 1:4).

Jehu accomplished great things for the Lord and the kingdom of Israel but his compromise destroyed his legacy. In the end his disobedience, self-centeredness, and lust for personal power overshadowed his accomplishment as a leader.

Has your leadership drifted from striving to obey God’s every word to subtle compromises that benefit you personally? Do you have an accountability group that will help you keep your focus by holding you accountable to scriptural principles and pure motives? Leaders will be remembered for how they start their leadership life but they will best be remembered for how well they finish.