I’ve had this idea in my head for a few months now to put together some kind of “Leadership Lessons from the Lectionary” resource. I believe that the Bible is a great resource on leadership – if perhaps a different resource on leadership than what you might get in some business books or leadership podcasts. Due to that, I’ve been thinking of our past weeks’ lessons in the frame of, “what basic leadership concept can you find in this week’s readings?” 
This week’s readings seem to revolve around the leadership concept of “truth telling”. Leaders tend to be people who are in conversation with a large amount of people – people who can often disagree. Most leaders find themselves pushed into corners with phrases like “Pastor, don’t you think…[the way I do]…?” Additionally, leaders often find themselves as the bearers of news that not all parties enjoy. This might be notification of layoffs or more work or a different way of doing things or simply news of failure in some arena. Whatever it is, it might be hard to be the truth teller here.
In those moments, it takes guts and confidence for the leader to do what she has to do: tell the truth about something. It can be really rough. Telling the truth carries with it the burden of risking relationship fall out, a drop in public opinion, economic withdrawal, and all sorts of other stuff. So it is good to hear from the Scriptures that even in the midst of the risk God is pretty clear about the way we should go, and that way is the way of truth telling.
After all, God tells the truth about us. He says, “you’re sinners.” He doesn’t ignore our problems or pretend they don’t exist. God isn’t afraid to deliver the bad news of our separation from Him, even when that grieves Him. But God also doesn’t stop there, and neither should we. As with many things, the question that separates the leaders from the rest here is the question “why?” Why tell the truth? So that we can deal with it with grace and Gospel. That’s what God does with us, and that’s what we do with others. We tell the truth because He tells the truth. We deal with the truth because He deals with the truth.
I am convinced that we all lead in one or more of our vocations. There’s a vocation that you have in which someone is looking to you for leadership. So take that mantle of leadership and this week – tell the truth, and then deal with it. Remember: God did exactly that for you.