It’s human nature to skirt around certain rules when it serves our agenda. There’s always a loophole if we look hard enough. Or at least a crowd who will pat us on the back for the ends, irrespective of the means.

It’s also human nature to villainize those who threaten our agenda. Because our agendas are sacred to our egos. Self-protection (even under the guise of other-protection) is a powerful idol.

Of our culture, it seems. The possibility of going viral is just around the corner. Everyone has a voice, and the means to millions hearing what we have to say is literally in the palm of our hands. Securing a market share in people’s attention seems to be the driving force behind so much of what we say and do.

This isn’t new, really. Fame has always been the gasoline. The means have changed, but not the motive. The potential audience has broadened considerably, but not the craving in the human heart. And of course, what we all deep down know to be true is that there’s amount of fakeness involved in fame—both in the celebrities we idolize and in what it takes to get there.

Ok—maybe fame is too strong of a word. Substitute, whatever less-megalomaniacal synonym you like: Opinion. Recognition. Honor. Greatness. Respect. Glory.

Being credentialless is not an automatic disqualifier. True, there is huge value to formal education. Most of the time if someone has some fancy letters after their name you can trust that they have a certain level of expertise in a certain field.

But the absence of fancy letters doesn’t mean that someone has nothing significant to bring to the table. Especially in the kingdom of God.

Being the kind of leader around whom people can speak rather than whisper is hard to pull off. People are always talking amongst each other, it’s just a matter of how loudly, how honestly and openly.

I mean no judgment, either on leaders or those they lead. There’s just something in the power dynamic that is intimidating. Whether people are saying something favorable or contrary, there’s at least an unconscious concern for how the leader might respond.

We are all, if we’re honest, like Jesus’ brothers in John chapter 7. We want Jesus to make a big, public spectacle for everyone to see. For us to see. Because that seems to be the thing to do. Go big or go home.

“Jesus, if you can go big, why go small? If you can make a loud noise, why be quiet? If you can do something dramatic, why do something subtle? If you can move mountains in my life, why bother with my molehills?”

Jesus doesn’t come and go in ways we think best. Pay attention to how often he teaches about small, nearly imperceptible things like seeds and yeast. That’s how the kingdom comes. Not with a flashy haze-filled light show, but in the softness of soil being moved or dough being kneaded.

Henri Nouwen has written that a significant step in spiritual maturity and discernment involves the difference between cronos time and kairos time.

Cronos time is chronological time and has to do with calendars and clocks. When someone is making a decision based on cronos time, they look at the clock and say, “It’s time for the board meeting.” Whether or not everyone is present and prepared doesn’t matter, because according to the clock, the time has come.

Time has arrived.

Then you have to start doing impressive things in public. If you’re not doing impressive things, then it’s probably best to stop dreaming and just get on with your life. But if you are doing impressive things, yet not many people are aware, then you’re only a private figure.

And what’s the point of being a private figure? The point is to be seen and admired and loved. To grow your audience, to broaden your cultural power, to strengthen your personal brand, to change the world.

So if you have a dream, get out there! Find out where all the people are and show them what you’ve got to offer. Make a splash in the marketplace. Go viral. Wow the crowds. Turn the heads. Get the buzz buzzing. Whatever you do, don’t hold back. You do you as loudly and as ostentatiously as possible. No apologies.

Can apparently include devils. This wasn’t beyond Jesus’ imagination as he was building his own team.

“Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”

John 7:70

Jesus was, of course, speaking of Judas. But it would be another 11 chapters before what he meant by “devil” really became clear. In Judas’ case, it meant “betrayer.” It can also mean “false accuser” or “slanderer.”

Why willingly work someone who you know is going to betray you, or falsely accuse you, or slander you? Seems like something was overlooked in the hiring process. Most of us probably would have advised Jesus to vet his closest disciples a bit more thoroughly. This is not how winning teams are built.

But maybe Jesus has a different definition of a winning team.

Involves a sub-question: Who am I going towards? Leaving one place and moving towards another place always means leaving one person or group and going to another person or group.

When I was a kid and I went out for recess, I wasn’t just leaving the classroom and heading to the black top, I was leaving the teacher and the students I was assigned to sit near and went towards my favorite friends.

At the end of the work day, I do not simply leave my place of employment and go to my house, I leave my colleagues and go to my family.

The compassion of Jesus is amazing. Yes, to the poor, the infirm, and the outcasts, but also to his own disciples.

Jesus’ leadership was gentle and invitational, never compulsory. He led not with an iron fist, but with an open hand. His disciples was never threatened into staying, but were always welcome to notice the exit signs.

Jesus was compassionate to his disciples because he knew that following him was hard, and would continue to be hard, in a myriad of ways.