The Leader as Change Agent:
“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16)
Charles R. Swindoll said “We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”
Leadership at its core is a moral vocation and leaders are change agents. Scratch a good leader and you will find a refine attitude, moral purpose, vision, passion, and persistence. The process of change isn’t easy. I don’t think everything has to change. Some things never should. But, change, even the hardest kind of change, has to occur if progress towards worthy visions is going to continue to occur. If you want to be a change agent leader: You have to be willing to die in your selfishness - Are you prepared for that? You need to be able to withstand criticism – Change invites pushback. Change changes things. So you must evaluate and be willing to sacrifice accordingly - You can’t be a change agent and equally be a control freak. You must think bigger than today – Change is always going somewhere new. You’ve got to think beyond now and even beyond the most immediate future. You have to look for what others can’t see, choose not to or are afraid to see (or admit).You have to challenge status quo - You have to go against the way things are being done and the way things have always been done.
Biblical examples of change agents include David, Daniel, Esther, and Moses, while modern-day change agents that inspired a shift in society include Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Mother Teresa. “We need to start solving problems in our culture as Jesus said to His disciples.”You are the light of the world--like a city on a hilltop that cannot be hidden. (Matthew 5:14) You cannot make yourself the light of the world. Jesus says you are the light of the world because of your relationship with him. “The God who said, ‘Out of darkness the light shall shine!’ is the same God who made his light shine in our hearts, to bring us the knowledge of God's glory shining in the face of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6 ). God speaks the light of Jesus into our hearts, and his light shines so powerfully through us that we are like stars in the universe that point the whole human race toward real life (Philippians 2:15-16). This is a portrait of leadership. Jesus, who is the light of the world, re-creates us into the light of the world. We are light, not because of anything in ourselves, but because we are in a supernatural union with the light of the world. He calls us to follow after him, and he says, “Whoever follows me will have the light of life and will never walk in darkness” (John 8:12) when the Gospel of the kingdom comes into a life and community, everything in its wake is impacted.”
So we should change the way we think about leadership. The question is often asked: “Are leaders born or made? In fact all people are born… leadership is not determined by heritage, lineage or their political connections. Although most of do not think of ourselves as leaders, we are. If leadership is influence, and I believe it is, then we all display leadership characteristics as we influence and impact others. Leadership is not about a position or a title; privileges or entitlements. Leadership is everybody’s business. We all possess the capacity for leadership, but only those who cultivate it will ever become truly effective leaders.
Two of the persistent questions we repeatedly ask are: "Who am I?" and "Why am I here?" God addresses both of those early in the scriptures. In Genesis 1:26 we read, "Then God said, 'Let Us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule. Being made in God's image and likeness means that we possess characteristics that are also found in God, It is similar to the way children often reflect the characteristics, mannerisms and appearance of their parents. There are several dimensions to this "image of God" in us. There is an intellectual dimension. Only human beings can reason and think, analyze and meditate. There is a spiritual dimension. We were created as people with a soul and spirit and there is a moral dimension originally given to us. Lloyd-Jones said “Man was made intellectually and morally in such a way that there was a kind of integrity about him, nothing false, nothing imperfect, nothing wrong. There was a straightness, and uprightness. There was a truth. His nature was one; it was balanced; it was exactly what it was meant to be: moral and intellectual integrity, expressing themselves in "righteousness and true holiness.' (Eph. 4:24)
The unique characteristic of each human being is the reflection of being created "in His image." We were made to uniquely reflect the nature and character of God .Each of us reflects the very image of God. Our peace ("Shalom") is derived from recognizing that we reflect His image and when we allow God to achieve His purpose through our lives. Life is a sacred trust. Our lives are a trust from God and therefore should be dedicated and lived to achieve His divine purpose. The music of our lives should be offered as an act of worship to our God the Creator. It all begins when we recognize that life is sacred. God told Adam that His purpose for him and his family was to be caretakers of the earth. He was to multiply and fill the earth and to rule over all God's creation. We were created with the awesome privilege of being a steward over God's Created order. We were created special so that God could reveal to us the wonder of His glory.
In every person, there is potential for leadership. This is significant to recognize. There's a saying: If nothing needs changing, you don't need leaders. Leaders look to see what God wants to change, and it's their responsibility to change it. But remember: People find change difficult. It's threatening, it's uncomfortable, and it provokes an internal reaction. Change is difficult, but it's what leaders do. Every creator designs his creation with the right components, engineered to fulfill the function that the creation is created to carry out. In essence, the purpose of the creation dictates the mandatory and manufacturing components required to fulfill the manufacturer's intent. Its “components” is right for the job.
This principle holds true for all creation, including human beings. The Creator caused to be inherent in each created entity- including the apex of his creation, mankind- everything it needs to fulfill its original purpose. The original purpose for mankind, defined and established by the Creator, was to "rule (have dominion) over all the earth." Since the word "dominion" in this case means to reign and rule, the Creator wired all humans with the capacity and natural ability to lead. Everything God does is motivated by his purpose, and therefore the original purpose for a product determines its design, composition, capacity, and potential. Purpose may be defined as "original intent" or "reason for creation." For example, God created seeds to produce trees and plants, and therefore they naturally posses the inherent abilities and capacities to perform this purpose. Fish were created to swim, and thus their ability and capacity to swim is inherent in their design and instincts. So we can conclude that human beings are wired for leadership. Humanity has the natural inclination to have dominion over its environment. The greatest evidence of what a product can do or is capable of its determined by the demands made on it by the one who made it. Therefore, God's requirement that we dominate is evidence that the ability to lead is inherent in every human spirit.
Therefore the Quality of leadership is the key to a prosperous and peaceful life. There is nothing as powerful as attribute and attitude of leaders. Attitude dictates your response to the present and determines the quality of your future. No amount of training in leadership skills, courses in management methods, power titles, promotions, or associations can substitute for the right attribute and attitudes. Your leadership development is determined by your perceptions of who you are and why you exist in other words, your sense of significance to life. Are you a “Change Agent” or a “Change Victim”? The choice is yours? Therefore Stop Being a Victim and Start apt an agent of change, we are drivers of progress, we are makers of peace— but we first must take charge of ourselves and decide we are capable of doing, being, and acting differently. We must become the change we want to see in the world. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Harold Wilson said “Change is inevitable. He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.” If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change. If you're in a good situation, don't be over excited it'll change. If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude. Do you have difficulty with bitterness, selfishness, self-pity, negativism, or pride? An attitude of gratitude can change those things and literally transform your life if you follow the values of the Bible.
Bible says “You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” (Philippians 2:5)
There is nothing as powerful as attitude. Attitude dictates your response to the present and determines the quality of your future. You are your attitude, and your attitude is you. If you do not control your attitude, it will control you. Attitude creates your world and designs your destiny. It determines your success or failure in any venture in life. More opportunities have been lost, withheld, and forfeited because of attitude than from any other cause. Attitude is a more powerful distinction in life than beauty, power, title, or social status. It is more important than wealth and it can keep one poor. It is the servant that can open the doors of life or close the gates of possibility. It can make beauty ugly and homeliness attractive. The distinguishing factor between a leader and a follower is attitude.
Thomas Jefferson said “Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude." We need to train our attitude day by day. Take a look at successful people in every occupation. You will find that no matter what fields they work in they all have one thing in common. They have a good attitude towards themselves.
They are called successful, fortunate, gifted, and lucky. They do expect better out of life than bad. They expect to succeed rather than fail. If you want something out of your life make up your mind that there are more reasons why you should get it rather than you shouldn’t. Go after it, make every effort for it, pursue for it, and ask for it and then you will be successful. Our environment is really a mirror of our attitude. If we don't like our environment we have to change our attitude first, the world plays no favorites. It is our attitude that determines our lives. Studies of thousands of successful people show that they radiate confidence. They expect success and this is why they get success. You can spot these people by the way they look and act.
William James a Harvard professor said "the greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude of mind” Just glance at our attitude towards ourselves. We take ourselves for granted. We believe that other people can do things that we cannot. Many people oppose change yet change in life is the one thing on which we can absolutely count. Because to improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.
