Christian Living

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The church has lots of resources but no leadership to help manage it. God is constantly looking for leaders whom He can use in his Kingdom, unfortunately many people shy away from or compromise on true leadership. 1Timothy 3 gives the specifications for an overseer and even tells us that it is noble to desire to be this person. It is alright to aspire for leadership but true leadership must come with an integration of person, practice and principles.

If you are bequeathed with a lot of talents yet continue to use them unwisely, you will soon be poor. Leadership is about spiritual character which radiates to others and positively influences them.

Leadership is about service as Jesus embodied in Mark 10:32-45. Leaders must first be servants and not like James and John who haggled over protocol matters whilst our Savior agonized over his death. In Christ’s response to them we see several issues raised.

Firstly that leadership is about sacrifice. Jesus did not become the Christ by demand but he rather got to the priviledged position by drinking the cup of suffering. He humbled himself even unto death. It was in emptying and humbling himself that he was given a name above all names. The sons of Zebedee, James and John, had to be ready to drink of this cup of suffering. You too must be ready for Jesus to honor you with stricter discipline as the saw and the scalpel shape you because only those that drink of his cup can be true leaders.

True leaders are people who have passed through a myriad of issues. Nelson Mandela was in prison for twenty seven years. When you go through that molding of God which invokes in you the unconditional love for humanity or Agape, then you are ready for leadership. In Mark 10:42-43 we are told that unfortunately there are leaders who lord their leadership over others instead of being servant leaders as Christ taught us.

Secondly, serving leadership is for the selected few. In Mark 10:40 Christ tells the sons of Zebedee that it is not for him to grant them the seats to his right or to his left; those are for those they have been prepared. You have a responsibility towards leadership but we can all not be overseers or presidents because the responsibility of assigning portions is left to God. In 2Corinthians 4:1 you are however asked not lose heart for it is as you serve people and exercise your responsibility of leadership that others will raise you to that position of true leadership through the intervention of God.

Thirdly whoever wants to be great must be a servant. What we now see however is church ministers who have more body guards than can be counted and whereas they are meant to be servants of the people, they now lord it over those who they are supposed to serve. How can a pastor remain in touch with his congregation if there are all these walls around him? This is a total abuse of what Christ showed us. He who was the Son of the Most High repeatedly went to pray alone without any visible bodyguards. And how sad that he never even had a house to call his own. Christ was a living example of servant hood and that is what you should copy. A leader who surrounds himself with all these helpers has already received his reward.

The Son of God came not to be served but to serve. Be a serving leader because this is what people are looking for. What kind of leader are you, do you lord your leadership over others? What practices do you adhere to- do they have a foundation in the word of God? What principles do you live by, are they based on sound biblical teachings?

Mark 10:35-45

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