Give Them Reason

I went to Atlanta in April for a ministry conference that was so stinkin awesome that it deserves a whole post by itself.  Which I will get to soon.  At this conference, one of our speakers was Craig Jutila.  He has a blog on leadership, which I receive via email each time he posts.  Y'all.  These are short little posts that pack a big ol' punch!

I read a recent post and he talked about the steps we should consider when making a decision.  He used scripture in all of those steps.  One in particular was this:

Obey your spiritual leaders and be willing to do what they say. For their work is to watch over your souls, and God will judge them on how well they do this. Give them reason to report joyfully about you to the Lord and not with sorrow, for then you will suffer for it too. Hebrews 13:17 LB 

Wow.  This is one of those verses that I probably have read more than a few times, but when I read it this day, it grabbed me.  I've heard I need to obey my spiritual leaders.  I don't have a problem with that. (Shocking to some of you, I'm sure)  But I super love the part that says "give them reason to report joyfully about you to the Lord..."  Seriously, this is one of the things I desire, yet struggle with at the same time.  I want people to like me.  I want to do a good job in everything I do.  Yet, I don't want that to turn in to pride.  But going by this verse, in "obeying" my spiritual leaders, which in my particular case are my bosses too, the Word instructs me to GIVE THEM REASON to report joyfully about me.  But that's up to me.  I need to be the one to give them reason.  Not that the things I do are for people, but in honoring the Lord in obedience to him and to those in spiritual authority over me, I not only gain blessing from the Lord for my individual obedience, but I also "give them reason".

What can you do today to give someone reason to report joyfully to the Lord about you?