How Lying Leaders Devalue Individuals

On Sunday, I had the pleasure of teaching the junior high students at Connection Church on the topic of lying. We had a lot of fun watching a video clip depicting the story of Ananias and Sapphira from Acts 5. As I was going through Scriptures and praying, God convicted me about a common problem with lying.

I came to realize that the Church does not seem to be doing a great job in this arena. It is far to common to hear a person exaggerate a story, try to impress, or attempt to fit in at our local churches. Sadly, the problem is also in the leadership of many churches with pastors and staff being some of the worst culprits of lying.

Here is how it usually goes, a pastor or leader will exaggerate the size, scope, or impact of the ministry/church he or she is a part of in order to "keep up" with other pastors and leaders. For many, this comes from a deep rooted desire to see greater and greater things occur in our ministries; however, it also can hurt those in our ministries currently.

In the end, exaggerating one's ministry actually devalues those people who are already in the ministry. The people who are already excited about what is going on get discouraged because it seems that the leader is not satisfied with just them.

Please don't get me wrong. I believe God desires to bless all of our ministries that seek to serve Him; however, maybe one of the keys to unlocking God's blessing on our ministries is being content with the size, scope, and impact of the ministry we currently have. When we do that, the people that make up the ministry will feel valued and excited about what is happening, which will lead to greater blessing, size, scope, and impact.

If that seems too selfish, it also serves as a great example for our young people in the church, who are always imitating the lifestyles of those in leadership. Just a thought I wanted to share.