The effective leader must pass the “Commitment Test.” Read Luke 18:18-23.

During the three years of Jesus’ public ministry, as His popularity grew, many people desired to be close to Him, join His team, seek affirmation for their life decisions, and get His answers to spiritual questions. It is refreshing that Jesus always went straight to the central issues in their life that would keep them from finding the answers they sought and achieving their potential.

Competent leaders deserve and should insist on loyalty and commitment from their team. Read Luke 14:25-35.

During His three years of public ministry Jesus gave Himself wholly to His assignment from God and to His team. He demonstrated His ability, commitment, resourcefulness and intelligence in private settings, to the masses, and to the political and religious leaders of His day. Jesus’ example tended to drive the uncommitted away but attracted the committed. His passion to honor God and His competence in carrying out His assignment gained the trust, respect, loyalty and commitment of His team. Jesus never hesitated to tell His followers to count the costs of following Him because He wanted their all or nothing.

Wise leaders know that before demanding high levels of commitment, they must demonstrate a level of competence. Competence is required to gain the trust and respect of their team. John Maxwell discusses competence in a note in The Maxwell Leadership Bible:

Competence goes beyond words. It’s the leader’s ability to say it, plan it, and do it in such a way that others know you know your business – and know that they want to follow you. Competence must be sought at every organizational level. Incompetence can be tolerated nowhere, John Gardner once wrote, “The society which scorns excellence in plumbing because plumbing is a humble activity and tolerates shoddiness in philosophy because it is an exalted activity will have neither good plumbing nor good philosophy. Neither its pipes nor its theories will hold water.”

Once a leader has demonstrated competence they must identify what it is within their organization that is worthy of their team’s commitment. I personally have found that rather than asking the question, “How do we get commitment?” it is better to ask, “To what or to whom are we committed?” No matter how competent the leader, until their team understands what they are doing that is worthy of commitment it will feel shallow to the team to be asked for commitment. For the Christian leader, when their organization’s goals and outcomes are properly related to God and the organization’s activities honor Him, commitment will make sense to the team.

Jesus said that His team’s love for Him needed to be so great that all other human relationships would pale by comparison. While it is true that only Jesus would qualify for that kind of devotion, leaders can learn from Jesus’ example and should not hesitate to ask their team to count the costs of being on the team so they can chose to get on board or leave for a cause and leader they can commit to wholeheartedly.

 Job 11:13-15 “Yet if you devote your heart to Him and stretch out your hands to Him, If you put away the sin that is in your hand and allow no evil to dwell in your tent, then you will lift up your face without shame; you will stand firm and without fear.”

It is a leader’s commitment to a cause that facilitates success. Read Matthew 16:24-26.

The 12 men Jesus picked as His disciples were with Him constantly. He knew the scope of the mission they were part of and as He mentored them He tried to prepare them for what was ahead. Jesus knew the depth of commitment that would be required of these men if they were to have the spiritual and emotional resources to fulfill the mission they had accepted. He knew the assignment they had accepted would not allow room for selfish behavior. Jesus made it clear that unless they committed everything they would lose everything.

One of my mom’s 10,000 sayings was “you can give without loving, but you can’t love without giving.” Leaders who fail to display generosity should ask themselves if they really love the people they lead. Read Ruth 2:8-4:10.

Boaz was a leader that modeled generosity. He owned a large field and employed reapers to gather his harvest. According to Jewish law, when the harvesters had finished, the less fortunate were allowed to “glean” in the field, taking whatever the harvesters had left behind. Ruth was one of the “gleaners” in Boaz’s field.

The actions of effective godly leaders demonstrate their basic understanding that faithfulness precedes fruitfulness, character precedes conduct and responsibilities precede results. Read Ruth 1-4.

The book of Ruth reminds leaders that God honors the qualities of loyalty, commitment and integrity. Ruth remained committed to doing the right thing, and God surprised her by meeting her every need and more. The book of Ruth illustrates that when leaders focus on doing what is right, God will bless the fruit of their labor. The book of Ruth is testimony to the fact that leaders need to put “being” before “doing.”