Life-Giving Leadership: Lead for the Line, Not the Dot
by Karen Hodge, Guest Writer
TODAY’S TREASURE
Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. -2 Corinthians 4:16-18
A dot is a single fixed point. A woman’s life is filled with innumerable dots. She sets goals and makes her plans. Dots are things we treasure, value, and prioritize. They are the things we invest our lives around. Dots can be things such as education, job, marriage, financial security, or having children. These dots captivate our attention and fill our days. These things are good gifts from God, but they should never become ultimate things in a woman’s life. What a woman worships is reflected in her life. The things she prizes or elevates as worthy profoundly shapes everything about her; it ultimately sets the trajectory for her life.
A line is a continuous segment between two fixed points. For the believer, the line is infinite and eternal. It begins in eternity past when, “…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him” (Ephesians 1: 4). It ends in eternity future, where He says, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Revelation 22:13). For a woman, her temporal and earthly line is lived between birth and death. She walks it day in and day out “by faith and not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).
What a woman is looking to and the things which captivate her attention may be the greatest indicators of whether she is living for the line or the dot. The dot is temporal and the line is eternal. Paul says, “We look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). Whether you are living for the dot (temporal) or living for the line (eternal) has everything to do with where you fix your eyes. The greatest part of a woman’s life is unseen. We become what we behold.
Remember where we started; a leader is defined as “someone who goes before or alongside another to get them to an intended destination.” Leading along the line is leading others in light of eternity. An invitation to walk alongside others with our eyes fixed on Home. It is the daily opportunity to remind our sisters what is true when we are tempted to veer off in another direction. It is shiny leadership that leads others to Righteousness. (Daniel 12:3) It is participating with the Spirit in the preparation of the Bride of Christ for that day when we will hear what seems to be, “the voice of a great multitude… crying out, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord, our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure…for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.’” (Revelation 19:6-8).
LIFE-GIVING ENCOURAGEMENT
- Where are you placing your hope? Is your confidence in the things that will fade and pass away or in the things that will last forever?
- What is captivating your attention? Is it in the things that are seen, your circumstances, and the trials and temptations of this life or the unseen and eternal?
- Where are you headed? Are you living and leading in light of eternity or is the path you are on leading you in another more self-oriented direction?
- Where are you investing your time and energy? Remember there are only two things that last forever, The Word of God and the souls of men. Do not waste another moment of your life investing in anything less.
Note from Sharon W. Betters: In our new devotional series The Steadfast Woman in a Shifting World, that starts next week, we’ll take a look at Psalm 62 as well as review some practical disciplines that help us stay steady when our world shifts beneath us. There are treasures in this Psalm that helped me walk a steady path when the earth shifted beneath my feet. I’m eager to share them with you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Karen Hodge serves as the Women’s Ministry Coordinator for the PCA (Presbyterian Church in America). Her joy is to connect women and churches to one another and to sound resources. She is also having the time of her life serving alongside her husband Chris Hodge, Senior Pastor at Naperville Presbyterian Church in Naperville, IL. She is the mother to two adult children Anna Grace Botka and Haddon. It is from the perspective of a wife, mother, leader, and fellow pilgrim that she hopes to bring the hope of the gospel to the hearts of women. Karen, along with Susan Hunt, authored Transformed: Life-taker to Life-giver and Life-giving Leadership.
For more from Daily Treasure please visit MARKINC.ORG.
Originally published Monday, 06 September 2021.
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