The Buck Stops Here

I've said it before and I'll say it again: If you want to mature as a Christian, you need to step into leadership. There's only so much that you can gain as a follower, like a plant that can only grow so large if it's stuck in a small pot. It doesn't mean that you have to become a visible leader, it can be as simple as mentoring a friend privately. It just means that you have to be responsible for helping someone else grow and in this way you can grow yourself.

While I see this as a necessity, that doesn't mean it's easy. What if we do something wrong in our leadership role? What if we make a bad decision? We make mistakes quite often as young followers so it shouldn't be surprising if we're not perfect leaders either. It's not called learning because we know what we're doing, right?

So what if we do manage to lead properly, with only unselfish motivations, and it doesn't work out? What if the person we're working with gets frustrated and leaves, or gossips about us, or makes a bad decision? What if the results don't match our expectations?

Moses had similar questions and problems as he gradually become the advocate and then leader of the Israelites, leading them out of slavery in Egypt towards the Promised Land. He deemed himself inadequate as leadership material to begin with (Exodus 4:10). He had been away from Egypt for years and had become a lowly shephard. He was a terrible speaker, as he said to God. Wouldn't someone else be a better choice? (I think it's funny that Moses was shocked that God was speaking to him from a burning bush but he got over that and started arguing with God anyway.)

So Moses certainly had a ways to go before becoming one of the greatest leaders of Israel. And yet, despite a constant stream of miracles, messages from God and daily reminders of God's presence, the Israelites rebelled and disobeyed Moses and God repeatedly. It was sort of an Israelite trademark (and ours as well).

At one point, the Israelites were moaning about having no water while they trudged through the desert for forty years (Numbers 20). Sure, it was a legitimate problem but the Israelites grumbled and complained about it as usual, rather than seeking God's help. This was just one more event in a long line of rebellions and Moses was fed up with it. God instructed Moses to speak to a rock and then God would release a new spring of water. In his frustration, Moses hit the rock with his staff instead.

The problem was that Moses disobeyed God's direct command in this situation, even though God still opened the spring for them. Because of this act, Moses was not allowed to enter the Promised Land (Canaan) when the Isrealites finally finished their desert wandering. Moses was only allowed to go to the top of a mountain to oversee the land from a distance before he died.

So here's the point: The Israelites were the ones that constantly grumbled and rebelled against both Moses and God. Moses was faithful, a friend of God. He listened to God's word and there was only one time that he really messed up. While the ungrateful nation walks into the new land, Moses, the one who was more faithful than all of them, was the odd man out. So what does Moses do? He blames the Israelites for his actions. Repeatedly. Check out Deuteronomy 1:37 and Deuteronomy 4:21.

I'm a manager at my computer software company. I'm the one responsible for due dates of all of our software releases. What happens if our programmers miss a release date? What happens if poor code is submitted or the final design is wrong? Sure, I need to make a frank assessment of everyone's skills and the causes for any delays and I need to address them accordingly. In the end, though, the buck stops here. I'm the one that's responsible for missed deadlines and I can't act like Moses and blame everyone else because I missed something.

In the same way, we need to properly accept responsibility when we mess up as leaders, whether that's in church or elsewhere. Maybe everyone else failed in their roles, maybe everyone else left us, maybe everyone else did something wrong. We're still responsible for our own actions as leaders and what's more, we're also responsible for their actions since we are their leaders.

Now aren't you glad that I said we all need to become leaders?