What are you doing to insure the generation that follows you has strong leadership? (77-1)

Without leaders the focus of individuals and teams quickly drifts or disappears. Joshua had a personal commitment to the unchanging standards God had given the people to live by, but within one generation after his death, the people abandoned the God of their fathers and worshiped the false gods of the surrounding nations. In spite of the established memorials to God’s work and the seven annual feasts, without the example and leadership and a strong central leader, the next generation was not raised in the training and instruction of the Lord. Read Judges 1 and 2.

Under the strong leadership of Joshua, Israel kept their covenant with God and completed their part of that covenant. Without a strong leader to hold them accountable, Israel’s conquest of Canaan was incomplete; God’s people disobeyed Him when they made covenants with the inhabitants of the land. Disobedience to God’s revealed word always causes regret in the long run.

Following a smashing success, it is easy to kick back and rest, to assume that current knowledge and achievements will assure future success. It is easy to do the tasks that are enjoyable and stop doing the difficult elements involved in leadership. The value of a leader is discounted by those that follow. That’s a dangerous attitude. According to Judges 2:10, the generation after Joshua “knew neither the Lord nor what He had done for Israel.”

Ever wonder if your role as a leader really makes a difference? Ever doubt during the difficult times if God is using your leadership gifts and skills or if you are having any impact on your team? When nations, organizations or teams do not have a leader to keep them focused, to keep God’s principles and truths as the standard and to point to history as a part of the pathway to the future, it takes a very short period of time for them to forget what got them to where they are.

When the Israelites had no central leader, the void left by the lack of leadership allowed room in their hearts and minds to embrace idols and pagan peoples (for another example of this reality see Exodus 32). Ultimately, it led them into sin and brought down the anger of the Lord on them. They knew the stories of their predecessors’ successes and failures, but they didn’t learn from them. It takes the constant encouragement and diligent work of those God has gifted as leaders to keep nations, organizations, teams and families focused. Effective leaders know this and do the work no matter the current circumstance!

What are you currently doing to open yourself to new ideas and become more effective in your leadership? Do you have someone that can hold you accountable to become a more effective leader? What are you doing to insure the generation that follows you has strong leadership?