5. Your heart has been “hardened.” Matthew 15:8 says, “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” A Pharisee’s heart is always far from God. What I have found is that when you are hard with people you are miles from God. There are lots and lots of such mean Pharisees within the church. I have had numerous opportunities to confront mean leaders whose hearts have been hardened, and many of them have refused to see the error of their leadership and have gone on to wreck so many lives.
There is a good reason why Jesus basically told his disciples in Matthew 7:22 that there will be people who will stand before Him on the day of judgment and who thought they were doing the right thing, but will face open rejection. Mean leaders are taking a huge gamble at treating others with spite. Jesus also told his disciples in John 13:35 that the world will know we belong to Him by the “love” we show toward each other. Be this kind of a leader! Let me close with the last part of Dr. Swindoll’s tweet that I saved for last in what I pray will be a wake up call to mean leaders:
“I don’t mess with mean Christians anymore. I’m 72 years old; what have I got to lose? Seriously, I used to kowtow to these people, but they’re dangerous. They are grace-killers. They’ll drive off every new Christian you bring to church. They are enemies of the faith.”
My friends, don’t be this kind of a leader!
Richard M. Salazar Jr. is an author, public speaker and humanitarian. He is also the founder of Rich Communications, which is the home for his writing projects and two radio shows, Real Life with Richard and Leah and Cross Connection, which have been heard in the greater Southern California areas. Richard holds two degrees in marriage and family counseling and in organizational leadership and is currently working on his doctorate in strategic leadership. Richard is also a member of the American Association of Christian Counselors and is a certified specialist in sales and public relations with Achieve Global. He can be reached at [email protected].
Charisma Staff 
