I went to sleep last night asking God to give me a word or Scripture for use in a meeting today.
I woke up at about 2 a.m. and 2 Timothy 1:7 was planted firmly in my mind:
“For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-control.”
It is quite easy in church leadership to adopt that spirit of timidity. It’s the spirit that wants to offend as few people as possible, the spirit that endorses the status quo, the spirit that says don’t fix what’s not broken.
The spirit of timidity leads to death in churches.
That’s why the spirit God does give us is fascinating to me. Look at the balancing act necessary between power, love, and self-control.
Usually people with great power have little love. Many times, people consumed by love forget their self-control. And self-controlled people are often too “in control” to demonstrate much power.
In Christ, God gives us the marvelous mix of all three.
Hearing that word is worth waking up in the middle of the night.