Biblical Character Review - Essay Example

of Biblical Character Review The bible teaches on Christian leadership right from the beginning where God is seen being a leader himself. God shows his command and leadership position in (Genesis 1:26) where he proposes to the Trinity, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping things that creeps on the earth”. The whole world was founded on God’s leadership qualities that began during creation. To farther elaborate this, one can say that there is a Person (God), a group (people), a goal (creation management), and a method (people managing the environment and populating the earth), this has been God’s management system since time immemorial. There is currently a large supply of books that talk about leadership. Most bookstore and libraries have a sizeable section of books on this topic. Unfortunately, these books have been written by ‘successful’ businessmen and businesswomen of the world who want to market their formulas for leadership. These books are filled with man’s knowledge of how to lead. It is hard to find a book that is based on God’s formulas for leadership. Many people have said that the men of the Bible are fanatics, because of their common appearance of semi-long hair and a generally unkempt appearance. They have reduced the bible characters to mere characters used in the development of a story. But these men of God were not mare fanatics. Their lives and experiences serve as examples to us as said in (1 Cor. 10:6). The detailed Bible stories, which are usually overlooked, show us their leadership abilities and principles by which they lived. There are a number of great leaders in the bible who have shown great leadership qualities throughout their lives that can be emulated in real life. This paper will focus on one such man by the name Job. Job is one Old Testament figure whom we might not think of as being a leader. Yet, the scriptures prove that he was a leader in (Job, 4: 3-4) that says, “Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands. Your hands have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees”. It is the work of a good leader to give instructions to his subjects so that there can be order and progress. Without proper instructions, things are bound to go wrong even in the smallest of organizations. Job has been giving instructions to large numbers of people while working as a steward. Job was known to uplift those who were down with words of wisdom, encouragement and always being just in all that he did. He portrayed not only good leadership qualities but also enviable personal moral behavior that should be emulated by leaders of today, those in power and those aspiring to get into power. Job’s qualities like humility, love for other people, and caring for others can be applied in real life in that people should seek for leadership positions because they care about the problems that the community is straggling with and also because they love their subjects and have genuine compassion for them. A good leader should also encourage those below him in difficult times just like Job did. This is because when people are faced with tough situations they need a strong leader who will lead them through the hard times without fear, intimidation and emotional breakdown. In the beginning of the book (Job 1:4), the Bible says that Job was “blameless and upright, feared God, shunned evil”. We also learn that Job had many possessions. However, Job was not perfect, for he was self-righteousness and he had to overcome this weakness. After he had succeeded overcoming this self-righteousness, God blessed him and doubled his possessions. (Job 42:12) “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first. He had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen and a thousand donkeys”. We have a lot to learn from Job’s downfall that was the greatest downfall in the whole Bible. Job went from being the richest and most prosperous man in all the land in the East to having nothing and being in the worst physical condition ever. Job underwent two tests where he first lost all his children and property (Job, 1:6-22) and the second one where his health was affected, and he got painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head (Job, 2:7-8). Christian leaders should follow in the example of Job and acknowledge that all wealth gained or acquired while on earth will be left here when we die. After losing everything, Job said in (Job, 1:21) “naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall depart. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised”. This should enable the leaders who seek leadership positions with the intension of enriching themselves to revaluate their goals and objectives in leadership. Leaders are human beings, and they are therefore not perfect just like Job and other leaders of the Bible who had their own faults like Jonah who wanted to escape God and Mosses who doubted the choice God made in choosing him to lead his people out of Egypt among others. Leaders should accept their imperfections, recognize their mistakes, repent and ask for God’s forgiveness and guidance in doing his work just like the Biblical leaders did. After Job became aware of his self righteousness, changed his ways and acknowledged that God knows what he is doing and that He is in control of everything, God blessed him more than he had done before. If Job had previously been a bad steward, then God would not have given him the amount of wealth he had before he lost it. God gives us wealth with the expectation that we will use it wisely and multiply it as it has been written in (Matt. 25:14-30). Looking after all these animals properly would have been impossible for one man to do. Job had an army of men helping him with his large numbers of animals. This large number of men needed leadership, direction and good management - qualities that Job must have possessed in order for God to give him all that wealth. God can only give us challenges that we can be able to handle, and the same is also true when it comes to wealth. We are expected to multiply what we have been given by God and not waste it or keep it as it is. The same should apply to leaders. A good Christian leader should ensure that there is growth in terms of development and progress in the community he/she is leading. Leaving things as they were when one took over leadership does not reflect the teachings of Christian leadership. Laziness is not a quality of leadership as taught by Job and other Biblical leaders. These leaders were hard working people who knew that they were not working for people but for God. Today’s leaders should take leadership skills and qualities from Job and apply them in their day to day leadership activities. In conclusion, I would recommend that people concentrate more on the Bible when seeking to learn about leadership. The Bible provides a variety of leaders who have faced different challenges and have successfully overcome them, and these experiences could be used by leaders today to help them deal with challenges, difficulties and hard decisions that they may be faced with in their work. One thing that is common to all Biblical leaders is their trust in God. The leaders had a frequent communication to God, and they trusted him in all that happened to them and also trusted that God will make them victorious in their endeavors. Today’s leaders should also put God first and trust in him during the good and the bad times. They should also keep God close through constant prayer and consult him in whatever they do so as to get God’s guidance and protection just like Job and the other Biblical leaders. Works cited Rapids, Mich. Holy Bible: King James Version.. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 2002. Print. The Holy Bible: New International Version: Containing the Old Testament and the New Testament. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Pub. House, 1984. Print. Read More