- Fear God more than you fear people
What helps you make decisions as a leader? There are always things driving you. In Saul’s context, oftentimes it was fear of what people thought. For David, it was always about what God thought.
- Enable the people under you
I find that leaders very consistently either use people or enable them. King Saul used people and spit them out; in fact, he almost killed his own son at one stage because he hadn’t obeyed. David, on the other hand, took a band of discontented losers and turned them into mighty men that stuck with him for more than 40 years.
- Put God’s interest above your own
Most Christian leaders start out wanting to do something for God, but somewhere along the way, their success becomes their god. You see this so clearly with Saul and David.
- Lead with integrity
Integrity is being the same person whether you are on a platform, in the office or at home. As for Saul, though he started out with a heart for God, his desperation drove him to seek out answers from a witch. David, on the other hand, always lived by his principles. He had some mega failures, by the way, which is sad – but nice in the sense that we can all relate to that. He was just quick to turn and ask forgiveness and clean it up when he saw it.
- Let people get close enough to love you as a leader
This surprised me when I saw it, because in Saul’s life you can’t find a story about someone close to him. In fact, even his family members distanced themselves from him eventually. And David’s story is just full of good friends. There were people who loved him deeply and would do anything for him.
I think a lot of times, leaders, even in our culture, are so busy and so success-driven that they alienate themselves from families, friends and everybody else. Eventually, that will get you. You will fail over that.
- Let God love you
We all know we’re supposed to love God, but I’ve come to the conclusion that we have it a bit backwards. We need to make space to let God love us so that we automatically love Him in return. It’s a relationship; it’s not a sort of to-do list that you can check off.
Are there any traits you would add to this list? Please leave your thoughts in the comments.
I do not think I could improve on Overstreet’s six leader traits, unless it had to do with graciously stepping away from privilege, to let others replace me and even to excel beyond me. Saul had to be killed to make way for a better leader, and David had to die to be surpassed by Solomon who would build the First Temple. David, in fact, began assembling construction materials for Solomon’s eventual greatest achievement.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Especially the part of letting others excel beyond us. That should really be our hope for succession, that our disciples will go on to do greater things than us.
Rightly spoken to leaders’ heart…
You mention “letting God love you” as a leader. I know that we will never treat others any better than we allow God to treat us. I remember Him specifically telling me,”You never let Me love you.” This was the beginning of my journey into knowing who He was truly calling me to be.
This is a very great word. It is hard for us to just let God love us. Instead, we try to earn it.
Is not being inspirational with God’s message also an important point?
John, that is a very vital and important point. Thanks for adding it!