Leadership

The topic of the week has been leadership…what makes a good leader, how to lead, etc…..it will be the topic of discussion for the next three weeks. The school that I’m a part of right now is called the Basic Leadership School, or BLS for short. I’ve only been in class for two days, but I feel like my head could potentially explode with the thoughts that I have processed through over the past 48 hours.

What is leadership? It seems like the majority of the world I know would classify it as what happens when you work and schmooze your way to the top where you have influence and power. Leadership many times seems like it becomes synonymous with corrupt in society. The leadership that a great majority of people experience is not the kind of leadership that shouldd be experienced.

Leadership is a necessary part of society…there is no way to exist without it. No matter how hard you try, it is nearly impossible to go through life without some sort of leadership…either yourself leading or you following. It’s sad to think that the picture we get of leadership in life is a picture of tyranny to one extreme or a picture of a weak willed person who allows anyone to sway them.

I just finished a book called “A Tale of Three Kings” today…it talked about Saul, David, and Absalom. The book starts out by talking about how David was anointed early in life to become king, but no one recognized that he was king nor did they recognize his authority. He walked in submission to Saul, a king/leader who walked in insecurity, gripping tightly to his power, claiming that it is “his right.” He became so insecure that he decided to throw spears at David, attempting to kill him because he knew that David was to take his throne at some point. Saul just didn’t know how it would come to pass…whether by natural means or by force.

The book also procedes to talk about how we all have a King Saul inside of us. We are all insecure at best when it comes to trying to lead out of our own idea of what leadership is. The self-centered, egotistical, insecure way of leadership we hail in our culture. The question is, will we allow God to strip us of that kind of leadership? Are we willing to let go of that which seems comfortable and natural and safe to pursue a different kind of leadership? The kind of leadership that God calls us to is wrought with difficulty, with pain and with sacrifice. We are called to be servants rather than to be served. We are to be humble rather than prideful. We are to expect difficulty rather than run from it, because it is in the midst of pain that a beautiful thing is born. Pain will bear growth…it will bear life. David bore the pain and the weight quietly. He withstood through the struggle, and as a result, a great leader was born.

David would not rebel against the authority in his life, but rather became broken through his experiences with an authoritarian figure as his king. He would not disgrace or disrespect his king, but rather honored him despite his corruption. David left alone when he left Saul’s presence. He went out to escape death and ended up wandering for quite a while. Suffering was his best friend as he laid, probably wondering what was to come of the anointing that Samuel had poured on him. In the meantime, he wrote songs out of brokenness. In this brokenness, he found the humility necessary to make him a great king. David became a leader in this time, not because he necessarily was seeking leadership, but because God had created him as a leader and people just naturally started to follow him. He refused to give into bitterness that would tear down his life and put his focus back on himself; rather, he accepted what he was given and continued living, growing in the leadership he needed.

Many years later, after David had become king and had been in power for a long time, his son Absalom became rebellious. He wanted his father’s throne and began to show hints of going after it. David was once again faced with a decision, this time whether to transform into the Saul that had inflicted so much pain on David as he was growing and learning and to force Absalom into submission, or to allow Absalom to make his own decisions and risk losing his kingdom. David could have easily subdued Absalom with just a word, and yet he did not want to become another Saul. So instead he did nothing.

David recognized that his leadership was from God, not from man, and that it was God’s decision, not his own, to try to hold the kingdom. David understood that God had anointed him for leading and God was the one who allowed him to function in that position for as long as He wanted. David remained humble in his leadership, understanding that God’s understanding is so much greater than his own, and he was willing to trust God when it came to keeping or forfeiting his kingdom.

Being in a position of leadership is a lot of responsibility to God, to others, and to yourself. Being a leader in the kingdom of God is equivalent to serving all, even the least of those you meet. Even the ones I don’t feel like associating with. Even the ones who do not agree with me. As a leader, I’m called to forfeit my rights in light of others. I was talking with our base director and one of my friends tonight about the base and leadership, and this thought crossed my mind. If we are desiring positions of influence, we will be given the chance to impact other’s lives. What kind of influence do we wish to have? I desire for my actions and words to measure up fully to that which God has called me to, and that at times will require that I sacrifice some of my own rights for the good of others or for the good of a community. It’s hard to sacrifice, but it is completely worth it in light of seeing someone else get closer to God or just becoming a better person overall. I want to remove all barriers I can out of my own life to be able to encourage others and push them beyond where I am. It is an honor to be in leadership, and similarly it is an honor to serve. When leadership becomes selfless, people notice because it is counter-cultural and counter-intuitive. Everything inside me that is of my flesh screams for me to just satisfy myself, to do what is easiest for me. And yet the leadership of Christ calls me to the opposite standard. It calls me to die to myself and to honor the poor, the rude, the mean and the quiet. It calls me to give up my rights so that another may live. And, in light of seeing someone else come alive, the sacrifice is not so great after all. It is rather a joy to see a seed take root and flower.

Leadership is servanthood. True leadership will come in the form of humility and will be birthed out of sacrifice and some suffering. Leadership looks to the good of others rather than the good of ourselves. Our world needs leadership like this, the kind that is willing to die so that others may live.

This entry was posted on July 15, 2008 at 5:10 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.