Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task. – 1 Timothy 3:1

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 7, 2015): 1 Timothy 3 & 4

Jeb Bush continues to lead the ever growing list of possible nominations competing to represent the Republicans in the 2016 political race for the Presidency of the United States – and the Republican Party continues to lead most polls to win that race, which is still almost two years away. If both of these early trends hold, which is admittedly unlikely, then for the third time in the last five Presidents, the leader of the free world will be a member of the same political family. But not only that, it would mean that the only Republicans to win the White House since the reign of Ronald Reagan all share the last name “Bush.”

But experts doubt that this would ever happen. Even though Jeb Bush leads the polls now, he is considered much too liberal a candidate to ever really lead the Republican Party. And if the past is any indication, we know that there will be candidates that will enter and leave the race over the next few months leading up to the Republican Convention in July 2016. Every candidate will have to weigh carefully whether or not this is something that they really want to pursue. The reality is that being President of the United States just might be one of the hardest and most thankless jobs on the planet. It looks like a great job from a distance, but the closer it gets to becoming a reality, the more sure a candidate needs to be that this is really what they and their families -wants.

Paul tells Timothy that whoever chases after the position of “overseer” desires a noble task. He is not, as some have argued, establishing a leadership structure for a church, but simply commenting that anyone who wants to be a leader in the church – in any position – desires something that is honorable. But not only that, the principle could be expanded to any leadership position – inside or outside of the church. Any position of leadership is something that cannot be chased after indiscriminately. Real leadership requires responsibility, it does not simply a badge of privilege.

So every leadership position, whether inside the church or outside, needs to be carefully considered. Paul’s advice to Timothy seems to be that he needs to make sure that his leaders are not just fulfilling open position, but rather understand the task at hand and the responsibility that they will have to their constituents. Because true leadership is the hardest job that anyone will try to accomplish. And we owe a debt to our leaders, because if they have completed their task, they have paid a very high price to make the church, and/or our world, a better place.   

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: 1 Timothy 5