Cruciform Leadership

A wonderful friend and fellow laborer in God's field sent me this great quote today from H.M.S. Richards, Sr., under the title, "Keep At Your Work." (I'm not going to end it this for gender inclusiveness - you can translate on the fly!)

The Lord has given to every man his work. It is his business to do it and the devil's business to hinder him if he can. So surely as God has given you a work to do, Satan will try to hinder you. He may present other things more promising, He may allure you by worldly prospects, He may assault you with slander, torment you with false accusations, set you to work defending your character, employ pious persons to lie about you, editors to assail you, and excellent men to slander you. You may have Pilate and Herod, Annas and Caiaphas all combined against you, and Judas standing by ready to sell you for thirty pieces of silver; and you may wonder why all those things come upon you. Can you not see that the whole thing is brought about through the craft of the devil to draw you off from your work and hinder your obedience to God?

Keep about your work. Do not flinch because the lion roars; do not stop to stone the devil's dogs; do not fool away your time chasing the devil's rabbits. Do your work. Let liars lie, let sectarians quarrel, let corporations resolve, let editors publish, let the devil do his worst; but see to it that nothing hinders you from fulfilling the work that God has given you.

He has not sent you to make money. He has not commanded you to get rich. He has never bidden you to defend your character. He has not set you at work to contradict falsehood which Satan and his servants may start to peddle. If you do these things, you will do nothing else; you will be at work for yourself and not for the Lord.

Keep about your work. Let your AIM be as steady as a star. Let the world brawl and bubble. You may be assaulted, wronged, insulted, slandered, wounded and rejected; you may be abused by foes, forsaken by friends, and despised and rejected of men, but see to it with steadfast determination, with unfaltering zeal, that you pursue the great purpose of your life and object of your being, until at last you can say, 'I have finished the work which Thou gavest me to do.'

I can't express how timely this quote is for me. This is the heart of cruciform leadership. Are we greater than our Master? Should we expect to be treated differently than he was?

Also, I think this is what it means to say that "we believe in the communion of the saints." Though Elder Richards has long since gone to his rest, awaiting the great resurrection, his ministry continues to speak to me, sitting under the weight of leadership in the urban jungle of Los Angeles. I'm sure Elder Richards could barely imagine the circumstances under which we do minstry today, but he at deeper level, he understood exactly. And today he has encouraged me to "keep at my work!"

Comments

[Julius]

Thank YOU for this, Ryan. The quote has blessed me tremendously.

[Nathan]

I'm not sure about the "let editors publish" being listed among the hurdles to be overcome—but otherwise a good prompt for reflection.
Thanks.