led

"Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped."

- Exodus 4:29-31

In today's New York Times Seattle's very own Eugene Cho was interviewed for an article entitled, "New Fame for the Everyday Donor". For those of you who haven't heard, Pastor Eugene has been spearheading a new non-profit organization called One Day's Wages that's founded on the idea that huge change can happen when a lot of people contribute in small but significant ways. To that end he and his wife Minhee have not only donated their year's wages, they've also coordinated the massive effort it takes to pull together and send out thousands of individual donations to the groups that are receiving them.

Among other things, that takes leadership.

(Click on post title to read entire post)

For those of you who know the story, when God first calls Moses to lead the escape of the Israelite people out of Egypt he wilts from the pressure. Although God himself handpicks Moses for this task, Moses is paralyzed by his own shortcomings. He feels so unready for the task, he tries to back away from God himself.

Moses did not feel ready to lead, and he's not alone. Though it certainly offers its rewards, leadership is mostly an unappealing form of service. Not only is it truly a form of serving (putting in time and effort for the sake of others), it often involves telling people things they don't want to hear and exhorting them to do things they don't want to do. Although being a leader may come with occasional titles, accolades, and the warmth of the spotlight, trading all of that for a quiet and comfortable life in which you don't have to think too hard about others makes some serious sense.

Except that you can't make that trade if you're going to follow Christ.

Now I'm not saying that every follower of Christ needs to become a pastor or teacher. There are many different ways to lead, not all of which involve that much getting in front of others. But the very act of following Christ means moving in a direction that not everyone else is moving. It means trailblazing. And if we think that following Christ is the better way, then we're going to have to be leaders in one form or another.

If you are a follower of Christ, take some time to look around. If He's taking you anywhere, he probably doesn't want you to get there by yourself. Yeah, God brought Moses out of Egypt into Jethro's family, but then he called him back so that the rest of Israel could escape too. Yeah, Pastor Eugene and his wife felt so moved that they committed a year's wages to fighting global poverty. But then they went back and called others to follow.

I hope that God is taking you places, especially into a deeper relationship with Him through his son. But I hope also that you take some people there with you.

PS Being a leader, like any form of service, involves some level of pain and sacrifice. Check out the following post from Jon Bloom about why such things are worth it:

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/2093_when_you_dont_feel_like_it_take_heart/