Jethro's visit to Moses is a welcome one. Why? First, Jethro brings Moses' wife and children for a visit. Second, he brings a fresh set of eyes to the huge operation that Moses is running. He sees Moses doing all the work of leadership - interpreting God's will, embodying the values and judgments that keep civil order, and basically sitting as judge and jury for all of the civil and governmental needs of a huge body of people.

Jethro is smart enough, and kinds enough to tell Moses the hard truth (17-23). It's like a clinic on leadership and executive management.

1. What you are doing is not good.

2. You're wearing yourself out. You're wearing others out.

3. Listen to me. I'll give you some advice

4. Teach them. Show them. Let THEM!

5. Select capable, trustworthy people.

6. Authorize them to do most of the work, and reserve for yourself only the things that no one else can do.

7. Your load will be lighter, your strains and stresses lesser.

8. People will go home satisfied. Why? The whole system works better AND more people will be employed and authorized to be true and active shareholders in the whole enterprise.

There is a New Testament version of this story in Acts 6. The disciples are increasing in numbers. The Grecian Jews are complaining against the Hebraic Jews that Grecian widows aren't getting a fair share in the food distribution. So the twelve apostles gather to find a solution to the crisis. "It would not be right to neglect the ministry of the word of God to wait on tables." (vs. 2 - apparently the apostles had been doing most of the work - leading, preaching, teaching, serving). They realize that the chief value is the proclamation of the word of God and that must be their first role. So (vss. 3-4) they choose seven capable, trustworthy people (full of the Spirit and wisdom) to serve the tables of the widows. "We will give our attention to prayer and the ministry of the Word." So they chose seven people - Stephen, Philip, Procorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas. They had a ceremony of laying on of hands and authorized these folks to do that important work.

So what's the outcome? Verse 7, "So the word of God spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests (Jewish clergy) came to faith in Christ.

And that's what happens in churches, and even other organizations, when capable, trustworthy people are entrusted and authorized to share the load of work and even leadership.

Ephesians 4:11-13 teaches this model for the church - the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers exist specifically to equip and prepare others to do the work of the ministry. Why? So that the whole work will be built up (vs. 12), so we'll reach unity (vs. 13) and become mature. It's true for the church (absolutely the most important institution on the face of the earth) and it's true for other organizations and institutions. The best models call for heavy enlistment, careful equipping and full authorization so that everyone gets busy, shares the load, expands the work and grows toward maturity.

Here are some principles for over-busy, hyper-responsible people who are often the bottlenecks of their own realms of influence - unwittingly clogging up our own best hopes by carrying too much ourselves.

1. We do well to get good advice from a fresh set of eyes. Like Jethro, an objective eye from outside - a truth teller - can do us an enormous amount of good if we will ask and listen. Almost every organization (even families) gets myopic and don't have eyes to see our own dysfunctions and inhibitions. It's always good to ask.

2. We inhibit God's work by self-importance and self-reliance. Of course, Moses was doing important work. But not all of it was worthy of his time and attention. His initial response to Jethro is a bit sick and self-important. "People come to me to seek God's will and to settle their disputes according to his decrees and laws." So no one else has the discernment to oversee these things?

3. We wear ourselves out when we become self-appointed martyrs. What is this martyrdom about?

Greg Asimakoupoulos gets to the heart of it. "I have an instinct deep within that stinks of dead man's bones. I aim too high. I aim to please. I compulsively control. And in the process push away the ones I love, the things I long for, and the wants God has for me…"

He also admits that his identity was wrapped up in being busy. Struggling with self-worth, he neglected must-do's and want-to's and invested way too much in the should-do - the things others thought he should do. In fact, he says he let others "should" all over him.
Why? Low self-esteem. Subtle doubts about inherent value "contaminating my soul." He then equated busyness with worth and wore it like a badge, and wore himself and others out.

Diane Fassel, in Working Ourselves to Death, writes, "Much of our frantic activity is symptomatic, an attempt to suppress or deny low self-esteem." Steve McKinley agrees. "That filled up appointment book tells the world you are working hard. Busyness is its own reward. But you can be busy without getting much done. You can get caught up in trivialities, accept responsibilities that aren't yours, work in a disorganized fashion, and create unnecessary work for yourself."

And I totally agree.

By the way, there's nothing wrong with good, hard work. Personally, I love to work hard. It gets me pumping and grooving in every kind of vitalizing way. But I can also work hard with peace and pleasure, not to mention community and camaraderie, if I learn to involve others well and work smart.

Don't be a martyr of your own making.

4. We wear others out when the systems bogs down. One of the biggest contributors to low morale is working and living in an environment that doesn't function well.

5. When in doubt, teach. If people don't seem to get it, teach. Doing is fine. Modeling is good. Teaching spreads truth and spreads responsibility and spreads potential and basically builds up armies of leaders and teachers. That's why the apostles needed to stay on task. That's why even Jesus walked away from the miracles and healing ministry at times and declared, "I've come to preach the kingdom." If you want to do a nice thing, great. Do it. If you want to stimulate a movement, teach, equip, inspire. That's why Jesus spent the better part of his time with a handful of people and then left us (not alone, but he left).

6. Who are we looking for to share the load? Capable and competent people, of course, but mostly credible, trustworthy people. I'll take a trustworthy person with nominal competence over a highly competent person with nominal credibility. Any day. When I've broken that rule I've suffered; others have suffered.

Can't you take on a few projects? Some renewal and recovery projects? Yes, but then we have to do (or hire a third person to do) high level accountability. Sometimes it's worth it and it's always a gracious thing to do. But of course, the best predictor of future performance is past performance. With the right help and accountability, cycles can be broken. But if I'm going to take on a recovery project, I set that person up for failure if there's no careful oversight and accountability.

So what if people do fail me? Well, it doesn't mean we quit authorizing others.

7. We must still let go and let others. Let them help. Let them grow. Let them participate and contribute. Let them succeed and even let them fail now and then. Let them become. Cousins says he's always looking for two kinds of people, those who will expand on his efforts and those who eventually replace him. That is the opposite of self-importance and self-reliance, and it is wise leadership.

8. Life just isn't supposed to be so hard all the time. No, God might not be as committed to making easy lives as He is to making strong people. But Jesus still said "Come to me all who labor and are heavily laden down, and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon your and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart."

And it helps to remember that Jesus, with a universe to save, knew how to walk away, reserve margins for prayer and interruptions, and was more relational than institutional. His pace was enviable even though no one would want the entirety of his job - especially the dying part.

9. Top level leaders live in the realm of values and visions. Note what happens when Moses clears his desk and realizes his need for empowering and equipping others. The very next thing - the Ten Commandments are born, perhaps one of the three or five critical documents of all time. Moses was freed up to hear God's voice and receive God's commandments.

Perhaps our endeavors are more humble, but it's still critical for top-level leaders to be freed up for prayer and visioning, watching trends and surfing waves, and also reinforcing over and over the values that drive the whole enterprise.

10. Every person has a call from God and a role to play in the ongoing movement of God's people. There are no spectators; no passive ride-alongs.

One more thing. We fear letting go and letting others because we fear chaos. Don Cousins writes, "Growth inevitably leads to chaos…the turmoil that accompanies action…the disruption that results from change…the problems that result from incorporating new workers. I'll take chaos - with impact - anytime over a calm lack of fruitfulness."

"Unfortunately," he writes, "some leaders believe their primary responsibility is to keep [things] running smoothly, to check chaos at any cost. So they devote the bulk of their time to the immediate tasks that keep [things] under control. They maintain…put out fires. But they never take the steps that would move [things] forward. That maintenance mindset has to be reversed."

"By what?" I ask. Trust. Trust.