Saul of Tarsus was a natural leader. He was outspoken, ambitious, and supremely confident. Such natural abilities were disastrous for the church. While the world was impressed with Saul and granted him additional responsibilities and privileges, God was opposed to him. The world admires decisive people of action. It applauds people who “get things done.” The problem is that our natural tendencies dishonor God.
Our innate attitudes and values exalt us, rather than God. They achieve worldly goals, not God’s purposes. They harm people rather than saving them. They spread darkness, rather than light. We can have the best of intentions, as did Saul, but find ourselves with God as our adversary.
That is why we must lead with more than our natural ability. We must have goals that originate from God rather than our best thinking. We can fool ourselves into assuming our actions glorify God when they do not. Better to wholly surrender your plans, goals, and methods to Christ and be sure you are furthering His kingdom rather than your own.