[Blog] Stop Letting This Hold You Back!

Do you run from uncertainty and chaos?

John the Baptist didn’t settle for a comfortable life with his family. He answered God’s call to be the “voice crying in the wilderness” to make way for the Messiah. The religious leaders held immense power; they were the civil and spiritual leaders, all rolled into one. But John didn’t soft-pedal his message to them:

“You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” —Matthew 3:7-10

John, though, suffered from the chaos of unfulfilled expectations. He thought that when the Messiah showed up, He would inaugurate His kingdom, kick the Romans out of Palestine, and rule with righteousness and justice. But when he looked at the impact of Jesus, he didn’t see these things happening. When he was in prison for calling out Herod Antipas for adultery, he sent some of his disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are you the one who is to come, or should we expect someone else?” (Matthew 11:3) We need to understand the weight of this simple question. John was asking, “Did I miss the boat? Did I waste my life? You’re not what I expected, and I need some help to understand what’s going on!”

Jesus told the men:

“Go back and report to John what you hear and see: The blind receive sight, the lame walk, those who have leprosy are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the good news is proclaimed to the poor. Blessed is anyone who does not stumble on account of me.” —Matthew 11:4-6

These are all characteristics of the Messiah predicted by Isaiah. The kingdom, Jesus was saying to John (and to us), doesn’t resolve all the chaos now. Someday, in the new heavens and new earth, every wrong will be made right, but until then, we live in the tension between “the already” and “the not yet.”

We too need to continue to operate and obey the Lord despite the chaos going on around us. We cannot let chaos stop us from pursuing the vision God places in our hearts!

This blog was extracted from How Leaders Create Chaos: And Why They Should! by Sam Chand. Find out how to be one of the first to get your hands on a copy of Sam Chand’s newest book on leadership by visiting us at SamChandBook.com.