Servant Leadership

Servant Leadership

S-1 Thes 3

Therefore when we could endure it no longer, we thought it best to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s fellow worker in the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you as to your faith, 3 so that no one would be disturbed by these afflictions; for you yourselves know that we have been destined for this. 4 For indeed when we were with you, we kept telling you in advance that we were going to suffer affliction; and so it came to pass, as you know. 5 For this reason, when I could endure it no longer, I also sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter might have tempted you, and our labor would be in vain.

O- It is inspiring to watch Paul from a distance continue lead the churches he had planted. As he sends this letter to the Thessalonians, we see that though Paul is in Athens, he still gives great thought to the church families that he has raised, and left to continue his mission work elsewhere. What I see in Paul is a leader who deeply cares about those he has led, even those he has long since discipled, he takes the time to check in with them and provide assistance in corrections as needed, or as the Holy Spirit would lead him.  In this particular case, he does the servant leader thing and even sends Timothy his assistant at cost to himself, in order to encourage and strengthen the Thessalonians. This is truly inspirational leadership.

A- The application for me is to try to be the servant and inspirational leader that Paul was. I can see myself needing to example his servant hood at home, in that in my leadership of my family I need to place their needs above mine. At work I need to be passionate about raising leaders and teams, but recognizing their very young and inexperienced, I need to be willing to send my best to help, even if it’s at the cost to me or my staff. Specifically so it is not lost in this journal the project teams at the shipyard are like the newly planted churches. They are full of young excited leaders who have a passion to do the right thing but not always the support and experience to be successful. I must constantly be checking in with them and sending the right people down to help, and approach that helps in a servant leadership manner. 

P- Dear heavenly father thank you Lord for today’s devotion, and even helping me break out of a bit of a journaling slump. I realize that I can be hard on myself, and that I have spent daily time with you, however I can see the slippery slope of not journaling as it is part of the process for me learning and growing closer to you. I thank you Lord for your grace, Help me to give myself the correct amount of grace so that I don’t place my own expectations on myself that drive me from your purpose and plan in my life. I pray all of this in Jesus Christ name amen.