I have told you this so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!John 15:11

In a yard two blocks from my house the trees are dying. For some time my wife and I, on our neighborhood walks, have noticed something wrong—fewer leaves on branches, peeling bark, a greenish white discoloration here and there. Two years ago it began with a large maple. Then the sickness spread to two evergreens.

Last night as we walked by, we saw just a few leaves scattered over the entire maple. My wife said, "I'm sure glad we don't live next door." Indeed, I felt like walking on the other side of the street.

A leader who regularly lacks joy can resemble those dying trees. Paul wrote, "Worldly sorrow brings death" (2 Cor. 7:10, NIV). God does not want anyone to live a grim Christian life or lead a grinding, heavyhearted ministry. Such leadership reflects a spiritual disease that can be contagious to followers, and it happens even in numerically successful ministries.

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