The Daily CHEW™
Moving God’s Love From Head to Heart for Christian Professionals
This past week I took the first true solo vacation of my life — six nights in the mountains. A wide cedar deck for Quiet Time. A lower deck where the afternoon sun lined up just right. A pool I could float in without thinking. Healthy meals. More journaling than usual. Better questions. And the slow realization that I had been leading from a respectful distance from God instead of from nearness to Him.
What I Was Learning
As a New York City kid, skyscraper lights had always pulled my heart toward God more than the pines did. Not this week. I looked at the pines and thought, They are going to clap when Jesus returns. And as I prayed, God surfaced something I had been quietly carrying into every leadership decision: I had been working for Him with full effort, but walking with Him at arm’s length.
How God’s Love Reshapes This
“Leaders work for God. Loved leaders walk with Him.”
— The Daily CHEW™
Scripture names what I was after, even when I could not. “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11, ESV) The Greek word for fellowship — koinonia — a deep, mutual, intertwined fellowship — is not a seminary term. It is the kind of nearness God’s love actually offers a leader. Not a transaction. A together.
What I noticed by night three: every decision I make from distance is heavier than it has to be. Every decision I make from nearness is clearer, slower, and braver. That is God’s love moving from head to heart — and reshaping how I lead.
Exchange: If I really believed God’s love is the nearness I have been working hard to earn from a respectful distance, how would that change what I am feeling and believing about God, myself, and others as I lead this week?
Walk: This week, block 30 minutes on your calendar with no agenda except nearness to God. No request list. No sermon prep. Just being with Him. If this is the only thing you do from this CHEW today, it is enough.
With you on the journey,
Ryan
If you had to put this into one sentence for today, what would you say God is inviting you to rest in or return to?
What is one way God’s love is inviting you to grow as a leader, not just feel better in this area?
If this describes where you are, a confidential consultation is the best next step. Related: The Love That Never Had a Beginning.
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