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God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might . And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart . You shall teach them diligently to your children , and shall talk of them when you sit in your house , and when you walk by the way , and when you lie down , and when you rise . You shall bind them as a sign on your hand , and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes . You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates . your ministry .” Although ministry contexts often provide occasions to focus on the Bible , there is a danger that the Bible will become a utilitarian means to achieve something apart from treasuring God himself and his Word .
Content taken from Healthy Leadership for Thriving Organizations by Justin A . Irving , © 2023 . Used by permission of Baker Academic .
When we are loving God with all our heart , soul , and might ( v . 5 ) and when God ’ s Word is on our heart ( v . 6 ), then we have something to teach diligently to others . Treasuring precedes teaching .
Especially for Christian leaders serving in contexts that are explicitly about ministry , these principles translate into a warning as well . To paraphrase insights I ’ ve learned from others , “ Make sure to approach the Bible more as a treasure for your heart than as a tool for
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Justin A . Irving ( PhD , Regent University ) is Duke K . McCall Professor of Christian Leadership and chair of the Department of Leadership and Discipleship at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville , Kentucky . He previously served as professor of ministry leadership and director of the DMin program at Bethel Seminary . Irving is the coauthor of Leadership in Christian Perspective with Mark Strauss and contributed to Servant Leadership : Developments in Theory and Research and Practicing Servant Leadership : Developments in Implementation . He has also served as a pastor , worship leader , and homeless shelter chaplain . 54