 C.S. Lewis famously said, “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” Nowhere is this truth more demonstrated than in the realm of leadership.
The Apostle Paul wrote: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8) If anyone was entitled to lord authority, power and privilege over people, it was Jesus Christ. He was the Creator, the highest authority, the Eternal Son of God Whom heaven and earth will worship for all eternity. But Jesus did not come demanding that we serve Him, He can to serve us. He did not come with a scepter of authority, expecting us to lay down our lives to aggrandize His life. On the contrary He laid down His life in order to offer us life, and life more abundantly. This was the example of leadership Jesus imparted to His followers. In Mark 10:37, James and John said to Jesus, “Grant us that we may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left, in Your glory.” They had it all wrong. They thought leadership was about getting authority and being in control. For them, leadership was about privilege and prestige. It was a means to gain power and control over the ones they were leading. This is how most people think of leadership. To them, being a great leader is having a great reputation that enjoys prestige, privilege and respect. But Jesus had a different idea about great leadership. He said, “Whoever desires to become great among you shall be your servant…And whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all” (Mark 10:43-44). To Jesus, leadership was servanthood and the greatest leaders were those who acted like servants. What does it mean to be a servant? It means to give yourself in the service of others. A servant is concerned more with meeting the needs of those he serves, than he is with his own needs. James and John, however, were caught up in a worldly attitude regarding leadership. They thought being a leader was about advancing and promoting themselves. To them, it centered on being admired, gaining authority and exercising control over others. Even worse, to the worldly thinker, leadership is a means of holding others down and using them to fulfill your own personal ambitions. But in Christ, leadership is the exact opposite. To learn more click here Comments are closed.
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It was concerning King Saul that David said, “How the mighty have fallen, and the weapons of war perished.” His was a life that began with great promise and celebration, but ended in miserable failure and humiliation. His life is an example of how the mightiest of leaders fail.
Why do great men and women fall? How do leaders, quick to ascend with such promise of unparalleled success, find themselves awash in disastrous failure and disgrace? More importantly, can the path toward one’s downfall be discerned before it’s too late and be avoided? It is the premise of my newest book, How The Mighty Have Fallen that such a decline can be detected and reversed. The life and leadership career of King Saul, Israel's first king, provides us with a treasury of examples of "what not to do." The below blog post is the first in series of excerpts from the book to examine and avoid Saul's mistakes and find a successful path through leadership. READ AN EXCERPT |
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