To illustrate what I mean about leadership coming from taking responsibility , I think about one of my favorite scenes from The Hobbit . When Thorin and company are escaping from the orcs and are stuck up in trees and almost falling off the edge of a cliff , Thorin sees his nemesis that he believed had long been dead . Any number of things could have been going through his head , but it all boiled down to a simple decision that he was going to stand up and fight . He nearly dies , but the next several phases of the fight involve Bilbo joining and eventually most of the rest of the dwarves joining the fight as well .
Thorin did not tell them to do that . Thorin did not have some plan that was being executed . Thorin simply made a decision to get in the fight ( i . e . to take responsibility ), and others then made the same decision to fight alongside him . The difference in real life is that the battleground is the hearts of men , and what we are fighting for is the Kingdom of God to take over our hearts and others ’ hearts as well . The self-sacrificing leadership of Yeshua set the perfect example for us . Our responsibility is also our sacrifice for those who come after us .
Having just come from the Emerging Leaders Conference in Kansas City , it is easier to sense the weight of responsibilities to our God , families , communities , the body of Messiah as a whole , and to seek and save the lost when you picture what it takes for one generation to pass that on to the next .
You do not notice the weight of something that you do not try to move ; you notice it when passing it to or receiving it from someone else . You get a sense of God ’ s perspective calling to His children when you realize that while you want what God offers , the next generation has to want it for themselves as well . It is humbling when you see those in the next generation that truly desire that for themselves . God is being faithful to raise up another generation to take responsibility for what they have been given . It is our responsibility in these last days to take ownership of the spiritual heritage given to us and to multiply it further .
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