Great people respects time. Time is a limited resource. What you do with your time determines the direction of your life.
Jesus started his ministry at the age of 30 and he was hung on the cross at 33 1/2 years old. He had 3 1/2 years to minister. During those years, he was an incredibly busy man. He did many miracles, raised the dead to life, healed the sicks, gave visions to the blind and many other incredible things. He was a very busy man but He was also a very focused man. He did not waste time, and he did everything with intention.
To be a leader, you can not be lazy. We don't have much time here on earth, and we can not afford to waste time. We have many things to do. Since our time here on earth is limited, our goal in life should be to pour OUT everything we've received and die empty. Only then can we really make the most out of our life's purpose.
As leaders, we need to learn obedience and avoid procrastination. We should have the mentality to build everything He tells us to build. Say everything He tells us to say. Reach everyone He tells us to reach. Also, you need to work well even when people are not watching you. Because we know that God is watching us at all times and He honours everything little thing we do. He is the God of justice.
John 4 reads the story of the Samaritan Woman at the well. It's interesting how He sent the disciples away to get some meat while he went and sat at the well. He did not need food, but he needed time alone. He wasn't resting, in fact he was expecting something out of the ordinary. He was expecting for a Samaritan woman, who is known to be promiscuous and have many husbands at that very time, let's just say she could have been a prostitute. Who would sit around waiting for a prostitute in this day and age, and not want something sexual from her. But Jesus waited, so that He could save her. He was waiting for her to come and draw some water from the well. That's one thing that we could learn from this first part: and that is Jesus was ALWAYS intentional.
Then when the Samaritan woman arrived, Jesus asked her for some water. She jokingly said to him, how can he get water if he has nothing to draw with. This is the second point: It is a question that we all can relate to. Jesus asked her for some water. He is asking her for what He already is. He later replied to her that He is the living water, and those who drink from Him will never thirst. How humorous is Jesus, asking us for what He already is. I suppose, He asks not for his sake, but for our sake. For us to identify what is our need and where we can find the source of that fulfillment. When God asks a question, it's not because he doesn't know the answer. He wants us to identify the true answer because HE alone IS the answer.
The woman wasn't someone that the town liked. In fact she was also going to draw water at the well at a very odd hour. She is most likely trying to avoid interaction with other people in her village, especially other women. So the third thing we can get out of this is: Jesus approaches the unwanted. Jesus goes to a place where no one goes. He goes into the territory people least expect. He deals with sinners, poor, low status people. What kind of King does that? He is an amazing King with a perfect servant heart.
A sign of a great leader is when you are not following the steps of others, doing what has been done, but creating a new path, taking the risk to enter into a darker world where you humble yourself and be the change. You walk where no one have walked. No one will understand it, yet, but they will when the people start tasting the fruits that you produce. If you do what others have not done, you will get what others have not got. And God have called you to rise up and lead. He also said the harvest is ripe but the workers are few. You need to start now! And take risk.
Throughout the bible, we also see Him demonstrate the impact he can have through the power of ONE. Never underestimate what fruits that person will bare if you just influence or touch that one life! No matter how messed up or ordinary they may seem. God can use them. The worse they are, the more glory God gets. The bible tells the power of one through David defeating Goliath, through Esther who saved the nation, who Joseph to delivers Egypt out of famine, through Mary, through Ruth and so on. He doesn't need a crowd if he has the right one.
And you are the right one.
