7 minute Read
By Bethany Rees

Our world is crazy y’all.

Every day seems like it brings another problem, conflict, constraint to fear. 

But as Christians we are called to not have a spirit of fear but one of power and love because of who we are in Christ. No matter the problems, conflicts, or constraints we are facing.

So how do we do that? How do we walk as followers of Christ and leaders of showcasing a light of hope versus a cloud of negativity and doom? 

Well, I think we of course walk in faith, but also remember who our savior is and then walk in humble confidence like Jesus. 

Now it bears noting here that I said humble confidence. Humble confidence in our leadership influence of others. 

Being humble, or having humility, is not about thinking less of yourself but thinking of yourself less. Humility is other people focused.

And guess what, leadership is people focused. And confidence, well confidence is not the same thing as arrogance. 

Arrogance is completely self-focused and it is thinking that you are better than others. 

Confidence, on the other hand, is trust and belief in something and it can be found in multiple things. 

Like having confidence in God for provision and protection, confidence in the people you work with to come together in unity to solve a problem, and yes you can have confidence in yourself to do your job and lead. 

So how do we model the humble confidence of leadership like Jesus did? 

In their book Lead like Jesus, Blanchard, Hodges, and Hendry discuss how Jesus was clear in his call to servant leadership by demonstrating the love of God to the whole world. But they go on to mention that:

“the exciting part of leading like Jesus is that He never sends us into any situation alone or with a plan that is flawed or sure to fail.” 

The humility is in our service to others, while the confidence is in the God we serve. 

In James 1: 2 - 8,  it reminds us that we will go through trials and tribulations of all kinds, even like some of the challenges, but we should not fear them. If anything we should welcome them because they will test our faith and produce endurance. 

And we need to ask God for wisdom in knowing how to persevere through those trials, but again we need to make sure our confidence is in God and not the world or ourselves alone.

Specifically in Verses 5 - 8 in James chapter 1, it says this: 

5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.

Divided loyalty here is referring to our confidence in God vs our arrogance of self and worldly things. Do we try to lead through trials in our own knowledge and skill sets or do we ask God for guidance? 

The road of self proclaimed leaders who seek attention, praise, and glory is wide, but the road to servant leadership filled with humble confidence is narrow. 

So how do we grow in humble confidence to lead through difficult trials? It starts with asking one of the hardest rhetorical questions you will ever ask yourself as a leader, or let me say…you better be asking yourself as a leader is: “what kind of leader am I?”

When Jesus went around calling disciples to follow him, did he pick those with the best organizational titles or natural skill sets? 

Um, that’s a hard No. He chose ordinary men like a ton of fishermen and a tax collector. 

He taught them, modeled for them, coached them through situations, and yes gave feedback so they could grow. 

Through their time with Jesus, they became clearly focused on their mission to love and serve others (humility) and they grew in their leadership ability by growing their faith in Jesus (confidence).  

As a result all of these men were leaders of a movement that continues to impact the course of world history today.  Now THAT is a legacy of leadership built around humble confidence.

So how can you grow in humble confidence as a leader through major challenges? 

I believe there are 4 things that will help get you started on the path to growing in humble confidence as a leader.

First, you must have complete and total dependence on God. 

As goes our thoughts, and our heart, goes our beliefs, and our actions. 

To be a humble and confident leader you must put your relationship with Jesus first. No matter how stressed you become with the challenges you face, if your thoughts, heart, beliefs, and actions are not anchored in Christ you will struggle. 

Paul even tells us in 2nd Corinthians 10:5 that:

We must “demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

So to become a more humbly confident leader, you have to have total dependence on God. 

A second way to have humble confidence as a leader through major challenges is to Stop making it about you. 

So often most managers and even leaders are self-focused. How does this situation make me look? How am I being perceived? What am I going to get out of it?

I was reminded daily and by my pastor at church, that I am not the point of God’s plan, but I am a part of His plan. 

So to become a more humbly confident leader, stop making it about you. 

A third way to have humble confidence as a leader through major challenges is to recognize that there is no perfect plan or checklist but that wisdom comes from God first, not man.

Oh how most leaders love a good checklist and the thought that a certain input will always equal a certain output. 

I used to think that if I just followed the plan of X, Y, and Z then I would be the perfect leader. WRONG! Plans are never perfect to begin with but they are definitely never implemented perfectly either. 

If leadership is all about people, people aren’t things to be checked off a list and they aren’t cogs in a machine where input equals output.  

Like we already heard in James 1:5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 

There comes such great humble confidence and a great release of pressure when we accept the fact that we don’t have to be perfect, there is no perfect plan, and we don’t have to know all the answers. 

So to become a more humbly confident leader, recognize that there is no perfect plan or checklist but that wisdom comes from God first and man’s best practices later.

Finally to grow in humble confidence as a leader you need to know that almost all problems are mole hills, not mountains.

All the time constraints, unfinished to-do lists, unknown answers and conflict surrounding you can make you react like Chicken Little…running around stressed out and saying the sky is falling. 

The sky is indeed not falling. Yes you have a new challenge to face and one may be more complicated than the last, but it isn’t the end of the world. 

Remind yourself of what is true: Jesus loves you no matter the sin or situation, and he can help you through any situation because He is the prince of peace, wonderful counselor, the alpha and the omega, and so much more. 

Another thing that is true is that you still get to leave your job and go home to family and friends that love you. Your identity is not completely defined by your job, you are so much more than whatever your title reads. 

So lastly to become a more humbly confident leader, Know that almost all problems are mole hills, not mountains

By leaning into all 4 ways of developing humble confidence in our leadership we become more comfortable in living the gray…and that’s where life is led.

Because each situation and challenge you face will be different and each stakeholder you serve will be unique. 

Challenges will always come, things are almost never black and white, and every leader struggles.

So take heart leaders in knowing this: you serve a perfect God who doesn’t expect us to be perfect, that’s why he sent Jesus as our savior. 

So go forth humbly serving God and others and be confident that God loves you enough to provide for what you need in the moment you need it. 

Know Better. Do Better. Live Better. Have Humble Confidence in leadership.

Rocks before Sand!

Scripture: 

If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking

~James 1:5

Theme Song:  

The Breakup Song (lyrics) - Francesca Battistelli

References Used:

• Blanchard, Ken, et. al. Lead Like Jesus Revisited. Nashville: W Publishing, 2016.

• The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.