Pitfalls and Protection for Leaders

There are 10 principles taken from a sermon preached by John Piper. Today, I'll continue with the second principle.

Pitfall #2: A lost of horror of offending the holiness of God through sin
'Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.' (Psalm 51:10)

The verse above was penned by David after he had committed adultery with Bathsheba. We bring our focus on 'renew a right spirit in me'. In the past, David had a right view of sin in his life, which was why he was referred to as a man after God's own heart. He was a man who walked uprightly and lived a righteous life. But there came a point in his life when he lose the horror of sin. There came a time when he begin to take sin lightly and did not realise how gross his sins were before a holy God.

In the same way with us, we can become casual with sin if we are not careful. Our values become corroded and we begin to lose a fear for God. We start to take God lightly and then we don't really care how our sins look like before a holy God. When this happen, we become vulnerable to the temptations of the evil one and fall into sin. It doesn't matter how spiritual and holy you are today, because this is an area that will cause many to fall. I'll end with a warning from Paul.

'Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.' (1 Corinthians 10:12)

Protection #2: Meditate on the biblical truth that all our acts are God-centered and not man-centered
'Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.' (1 Corinthians 10:31)

Everything that we do either glorify or dishonour God, there is no in between. Every simple and small thing we do must be God-centered. Every major decisions and big things we do must be God-centered. Our lives are meant to please God. We were made to glorify Him. To protect ourselves from falling into this pitfall, we need to realign our thoughts and remember that all our acts, all our thoughts, all our words, all that we do must be God-centered. God must be our focus everyday!

Pitfalls and Protection for Leaders

There are 10 principles taken from a sermon preached by John Piper. Today, I'll begin by sharing one principle.

Pitfall #1: Falling in love with the present world
'For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.' (2 Timothy 4:10)

It is easy for leaders to fall into this trap. Sometimes due to our position as leaders, we are lifted up and we start to lose our focus on God and start to turn our eyes on the things of this world. We start to envy the world and crave for the things of the world. We read of people being successful in this world and there is a little tug and pull in our heart to want to be like them. The moment we allow our eyes to feast on worldly things and our heart to be lured into desiring the world, we start to fall.

Protection #1: Think hard about the mountains and fountain spring of the beauty of God
'Thou, even thou, art LORD alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.' (Nehemiah 9:6)

Sometimes we need to take a time out to just sit and soak in the goodness of God through admiring and appreciating what He has created. God made nature for us to enjoy and relax in it. In order for us to not fall in love with the world, we need to fall in love with what God has made. Take some time, go for a walk, feel the breeze as the wind blows, smell the fragance of the freshly bloomed flowers, hear the sound of the flowing water in a river, see the intricate movement of an animal, taste the sweetness of biting into an apple.