Inspirations at your Fingertips!

Leadership Luke 7:1-10 In today's reading, St. Paul asks Timothy to pray for leaders and those in authority so that people may live a quiet and tranquil life in all devotion and dignity.  He also sets himself as an example of a leader who gives witness to God in Jesus Christ. Leadership is also the theme of today's gospel where a person of authority respects the dignity of Jesus as the Messiah and that instead of Jesus going to his home, only the power of his word can cure his servant. What is a leader then?  In summary, a leader should have fear of the Lord.  Second, he should take the responsibility to be God's steward and put order into creation.  Third, her should take up the mission of responsible leadership and bring his subjects to a greater knowledge of Jesus, the source of leadership and salvation.

We could make a contrast between David, the favored leader of the Lord and Herod who beheaded John the Baptist. Herod was vain; David was filled with the Lord. The first quality of a leader is found in his relationship with God. A true leader mirrors the loving leadership of God. Herod was a coward; David was a man of courage. A true leader is a man of principles, character, and integrity. He is all that God stands for - uncompromising with evil, yet imbued with a gentle heart of compassion. Herod succumbed to moral death; David lives eternally in the hearts of his people of every generation. David's sins were forgiven; Herod is passed on in time as a man of shame. A true leader is aware where the exercise of his leadership would take him. His legacy is would pass on from generation to generation. His story becomes a man's journey toward heaven. When we would choose the next leader, think of one who has fear of the Lord but is not afraid to lay down his principles on any...