TRUE LEADERSHIP
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet… John 13:3-5
As I have the opportunity to talk to people, either individually or in groups, a
common topic seems to always enter the conversation…leadership, or better put,
the lack of leadership. It seems we
are searching for it…in fact, starving for it.
The general consensus of most is that leadership doesn’t exist anymore,
at least not in its truest sense. Over
and over, we are disappointed in those we have placed our confidence in.
Over time, that disappointment has led to a lack of trust.
“Fool me once, shame on you…fool me twice, shame on me” is the new
slogan of today. We seem to have
lost all confidence in our leaders.
Why is that?
Have we forgotten we live in a world that wants to define everything…our
values…our beliefs…our priorities around
“self”? The world tells
us whom to love and when to love…under what conditions we can love…when in
reality, the world has no idea what love is.
Everything, we are told, revolves around “us”.
Do what is best for us…stay away from what hurts us…use others to
promote us…gain power and wealth for us.
With this worldly philosophy dictating our every move, why would we think our
leaders would be any different? Leadership
is reflective of what our society thinks is important and what our society
thinks is important is “self”!
If we want to see true leadership, we need only to look at the life of the
greatest leader who ever walked the face of this earth.
Jesus showed us what true leadership was.
“And He began to wash the feet of the disciples.”
When we read the account this wonderful act of love, we sometimes don’t look
closely enough at the verses preceding the washing of the disciples’ feet.
We are told that Jesus knew all thing had been given to Him by God…that
He was from God…that He was going to God.
“
“Given all things from God”…now that’s wealth!
“That He was from God and He was going to God”…now that’s power!
And yet with all that wealth and power, Jesus knelt down and washed His
friends’ feet in one of the greatest examples of leadership ever demonstrated.
We need to remember that Christ’s love is not the
world’s love. And
Christ’s leadership is not the world’s idea of leadership.
True leadership puts others ahead of self. True
leadership demands doing what is right in spite of consequences.
True leadership is setting an example for the world to see founded on
honest motives and a genuine love for others.
True leadership is being a servant…washing the feet of those around you and
putting the needs of others ahead of your own.
To find true leadership for today’s world, we need only to look to Christ.
In Him, we’ll find our answers. As
Christ leads us, may we be true leaders of today by serving one another.
Love in Christ,
Billy