Many of us as leaders pursue the interests of man rather than the interests of God in the Name of Jesus.

Welcome back to LeaderVision where we seek to give you a vision for your heart as a leader so you can make a difference through your head and your hands for the glory of God.  My name is Bill Lawrence and I’m President of Leader Formation International and I want you to know that that concept — pursuing the interests of man rather than the interests of God was one of the most penetrating concepts I ever experienced.  I really began to understand myself when I began to understand that concept.

You know, it doesn’t matter what kind of leader we are—whether we’re in business, whether we’re in the professions, whether we’re in church—whatever our leadership role is, it doesn’t matter.  The issue is what we’re doing in the Name of Jesus?

Without even realizing it, we use Jesus to get what we want in life — in our careers, in our marriages, with our children and our friendships, in our business dealings, we are consistently claiming that we serve the Lord and in fact, we want to.  That is the desire of our lives.  But, we’re actually attempting to manipulate Him.  And we react when He doesn’t do what we want Him to do. 

You ever negotiate a deal with Jesus?  You ever say, “Look, I’ll do what You want me to do if You do this?  I’ll raise my family to serve You…if You will protect my children.”  Now, protecting our children is a very legitimate desire.  But it’s not a deal that Jesus entered into for one simple reason — He doesn’t make deals. 

You can say, “Look, I’ll run my business Your way and I’ll be honest as long as You protect me against losses.”  But losses come, the economy dries up, your business is failing and you’re angry…angry with the Lord because He didn’t keep the deal that you made.  The thing is, He never entered into the deal because He just doesn’t make deals and besides, our economic success is not His priority.  Our spiritual growth is His priority.

So you see, He’s the Lord and the Lord doesn’t make deals.  He’s the One who decides what we’re going to do.  And you know, the funny thing about Him is that He can be a not very good businessman.  It’s amazing how He can allow a business to go in ways that we would never allow it to go.  And we struggle with Him and we wrestle with Him, but it’s very clear — His primary concern is not our business success, it is our growth, our development, our spiritual success.