Warning: Don't Fall Into The Old Guide To Guard Trap!
We are called to guide those who look to us for advice and help, but if we aren't careful we can become guards. It is a subtle shift, but it's how you can become the villain in the life of others.
I arrive in your email box each week to share content to help you know God.
To be clear, I believe you can know God. Even more, God wants you to know him. Human history is a story of God reaching into the world to connect with his creation. Taking this a step further, you are a part of the story God is telling. He is the main character in the story, but each of us has subplots that fit into the narrative.
In your story, God designed you to play the hero, but the trap the enemy of your soul sets is to turn you into a victim. To keep you from becoming the victim, God puts people in our lives to guide us over and around the obstacles. In the stories of others around you, God designed you to play a different role. One role we are destined to play is the guide or leader, but there is a dark side to the role of the guide…the villain.
In this post, I want to share how I often see those called to play the guide subtly shift into the villain role.
Guide vs Guard
One of the easiest ways to decipher unclear scripture passages is to read the same passage in a different version/translation of the Bible. I typically read the Bible in the New Living Translation (NLT), so when I need some help with a difficult passage, I will first refer to the English Standard Version, the New International Version, the Amplified Bible, or The Message version.
I did this with 1 Corinthians 4 a couple of years ago and couldn’t believe what I read. Here are the first few verses of that passage from The Message:
'Don’t imagine us leaders to be something we aren’t. We are servants of Christ, not his masters. We are guides into God’s divine secrets, not security guards posted to protect them. The requirements for a good guide are reliability and accurate knowledge. It matters very little to me what you think of me, even less where I rank in popular opinion. I don’t even rank myself. Comparisons in these matters are pointless. I’m not aware of anything that would disqualify me from being a good guide for you, but that doesn’t mean much. The Master makes that judgment.'
-1 Corinthians 4:1-4 MSG (emphasis mine)
You are a leader. The place and capacity of leadership are different for each of us, but you carry influence. With this as a foundation, notice how the author of 1 Corinthians frames being a leader — as a guide or guard. The call is the same (leader), but the way of playing that role differs (guide or guard). If you are playing the leader as a guard, you are falling into the role of the villain.
So, let me define the differences between guides and guards:
A guide releases a hero into the gifts, calling, and purpose of God.
A guard controls a hero and keeps her from God’s call.
In the story of David, when he was still a wide-eyed shepherd boy, he was looking for a guide. He needed leadership as he prepared to face the giant, Goliath. Initially, David turned to his oldest brother, Eliab, but Eliab sought to control David.
“Eliab, his older brother, heard David fraternizing with the men and lost his temper: “What are you doing here! Why aren’t you minding your own business, tending that scrawny flock of sheep? I know what you’re up to. You’ve come down here to see the sights, hoping for a ringside seat at a bloody battle!” -1 Samuel 17:28 MSG
Notice the controlling language. Eliab belittled David’s position as a sheepherder, questioned David’s motives, and sought to knock David down a few pegs (though David was at the lowest of the low, acting as an Uber Eats driver). King Saul released David into the battle, but the prince, Jonathan, was the guide in this story.
In the next chapter, Jonathan makes a pact with David, and they become lifelong friends. Most importantly, Jonathan recognized the call on David’s life, and instead of blocking it, he released David to be the next king of Israel (denying himself that position).
Jonathan, Saul’s son, visited David at Horesh and encouraged him in God. He said, “Don’t despair. My father, Saul, can’t lay a hand on you. You will be Israel’s king and I’ll be right at your side to help. And my father knows it.” Then the two of them made a covenant before God. David stayed at Horesh and Jonathan went home. -1 Samuel 23:16-18 MSG
A guard controls, and a guide releases.
How do you keep from becoming a guard?
Reliable and Accurate
In my last post, I shared three core characteristics of a guide—brutal honesty, positivity, and humility. We have to be honest about where things are in the story. If the situation they are in is ugly, we need to say it, but at the same time, we need to voice our belief in the hero. The guide affirms the call on the hero’s life, and in humility, she gets out of the way so the hero can overcome the obstacles in his way.
These are characteristics we must have, but Paul adds two more to keep us from creeping into guard territory:
“The requirements for a good guide are reliability and accurate knowledge.”
Let’s take these one at a time.
Reliability
Your role as a guide depends on being a person others can rely on. This is true in your workplace, family, friendships, or organizations you might volunteer in. Your reliability will build your long-term success, which will lead to greater responsibility.
In other words, as you display your trustworthiness, there will be more opportunities to guide those around you. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself to gauge how reliable you are:
Are you learning and growing in your various roles (family, friends, work, etc)?
Do you operate with integrity in each of your relationships?
Do you fulfill what you promise…every time?
Are you competent to above average in your roles?
Let me speak to you who are followers of Jesus for a moment. If you are reliable in the list above, you will have opportunities to guide your co-workers, employees, friends, and family into God's secret places. If so, you must be accurate in God's Word.
So let’s look at what it means to be accurate.
Accuracy
Paul speaks about leading people into God's secret places in this passage. If you are going to take the people in your life to these places, you need to be accurate in what you share.
The weight of this responsibility seems to have grown as I’ve gotten older, and it has intensified what it means to be a follower of Jesus has become fuzzier. What does this mean?
To answer, let’s go back to the beginning of this post—know God. The best way to be accurate with the secrets of God is to know God. And if you want to know God (or know him better), here are four tips (and links) to grow in this process:
Read the Bible. These are five ways to approach Scripture if you’ve never read the Bible or have had trouble being consistent.
Understand the Bible. It won’t take long to figure out that the Bible is unlike a typical book, so here are a few ways to help you better understand it.
Hear God. God speaks, and he wants to talk to you. This may seem unbelievable, but I challenge you to try these tips.
Act. God expects us to do something with what we hear. Acting on what we hear is a sure sign that we know God.
Let the Master judge.
You may have read this far and wondered, am I a guide or a guard? Let me answer with an anecdote first.
I’m a fan of the KC Chiefs and consume tons of Chiefs news. In my quest for information, I see lots of facts but also loads of opinions. One of the more popular opinion posts is “power rankings.” If you are unfamiliar with a power ranking, an expert(s) looks at the entire league and ranks each team from top to bottom. These experts determine which team is the BEST.
As you can imagine, this leads to much disagreement among fans. How can you rank my undefeated team lower than a team with a loss or two?
Thankfully, there are no power rankings for leaders in the real world. Most of us believe we are guiding well and not keeping people from the good things of God, but others may disagree. They may call you a guard. It is also possible some will think we are excellent guides.
But these are all just opinions.
As Paul says, and The Message so eloquently translates,
“The Master makes that judgment.”
May God’s judgment of your role as a guide challenge you to know God. The better you know the judge, the better you will lead others, and the better the judge will say to you, “Well done.”
Let me close by thanking a handful of new newsletter subscribers (Craig + B). The best way to support this newsletter is to share it with your friends.
I appreciate everyone who shared last week’s post; I am grateful for your generosity. -Andy
Related Posts
This is the last in a series of posts on the power of story in your life. Make sure to catch up on anything you missed:
