Leaders face pivotal moments that define their purpose on earth

Leaders face pivotal moments that define their purpose on earth.

Three years of traveling ministry and Jesus was championed by many in Israel as the long-awaited messiah. At his final entrance to Jerusalem, the people greeted him outside with shouts and palm branches. So great was the commotion that Jesus' opponents complained the “Look, the world has gone after him (ESV, John 12:19).” This seemed the pivotal moment in Jesus' life, when he would finally overthrow the Roman government and establish God’s kingdom in Israel. It was a pivotal moment, but only Jesus knew why. Outside Jerusalem, in Gethsemane garden, Jesus faced the essential pivot of his entire life. With his disciples nearby but too sleepy to watch, Jesus wrestled with the decision to avoid imminent, excruciating suffering or to select suffering on behalf of others. His entire life of thirty-three years hinged upon this point.

Winston Churchill describes the pivotal moment in a leader’s life this way, “There comes a special moment in everyone’s life, a moment for which that person was born. That special opportunity, when he seizes it, will fulfill his mission–a mission for which he is uniquely qualified. In that moment he finds greatness. It is his finest hour (ref in (Maxwell, pg. 318)).”

Leaders do not choose the single point their entire lives are uniquely fulfilled. Like Jesus, the time will come when their mission on earth stands before them, to accept or to reject, but they choose neither the mission nor the timing. Wise leaders who keep their eyes open may notice the signs, however. As Jesus knew that his purpose for ascending to Jerusalem was not to be crowned king but to suffer, so we are capable, most of the time, to perceive when our time is nigh. Winston Churchill must have known his time had come as his country challenged Hitler’s unstoppable military might alone on an island. The best he could do, the best any of us could do, was to prepare his heart “to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm (ESV, Ephesians 6:13).” Let this strengthen leaders to face today’s challenges with endurance and love, knowing that each day their moment draws closer. Like Jesus, our finest hour may be at the end of our lives, or it may come unannounced in the midst of our days. But it will come, and it is important to be ready.

Earlier this week as I was reflecting on this law I discovered that it annoyed me. I didn’t like the so-called Law of Timing. It seemed to represent a fact of life that happens every day, where the decisions we make solidify in the concrete of time for either a strong or a brittle foundation. Except for the certainty of timing, there was no clear way to control or improve at timing. The irritant I discovered was because I had generalized the law. Instead of a single point in time, often only one in a person’s entire life, I took the Law of Timing to mean that actions ought to happen at the right time and place. But as I reflected on other stories, such as Jesus or Churchill, I began to see that the Law of Timing refers to a pivotal moment in someone’s life that will forever determine their purpose on earth. Instead of annoyance, this law invigorates me to lead well today, learning what I can, and wait with eager anticipation and watchfulness for a day when the threads of my life’s hapless meanderings converge at the crucial moment.

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