Many leaders never achieve the level of influence they could potentially have because they drift through life on autopilot, maintaining the status quo, without a big ambition.
They have no master plan, no big purpose, no dreams pulling them along. But if you’re going to be a great leader, you need to dream great dreams.
When you stop dreaming, you start dying. If you have no goals, you have no growth.
God put in your mind the ability to think great thoughts and dream great dreams and have great visions. When you’re stretching and growing and developing, you’re a healthy human being. We grow by being stretched. We grow by facing new challenges.
In fact, I would say that if you’re not facing any challenges right now, you need to go find one quick.
There are three common misconceptions that keep people from having a great ambition in life, and these are especially prevalent among pastors and Christian leaders.
1. We confuse humility and fear.
God wants you to be humble, but He does not want you to be fearful. And fear will prevent you from accomplishing meaningful things.
Every leader is unique, with an individual make-up of spiritual gifts, passions, abilities, a unique personality and unique experiences. And God’s desire for how a leader will influence the world around them is closely tied to that uniqueness. But however God has uniquely shaped you, you need to desire all the influence He will grant you in your leadership so that you can make as large an impact as possible for the Kingdom’s sake.
Humility is not assuming that I can’t be a great leader and have a meaningful impact. That’s fear. And fear will strip us of our ability to do great, world-changing things.
Humility is rightly understanding my identity as I am defined by my Creator and my relationship to Jesus. While fear holds us back, genuine humility propels us forward because we believe that we serve a really BIG God!
