Serving to Death

Good leaders serve. They do so, not to gain recognition or to be praised by their peers, but simply for the sake of serving and loving their followers. As Christians, when we lead we should serve and love because Christ first served and loved us. However, this idea of servant leadership is radically different than what we usually see in the world.

We see leaders who seek the limelight, yet Christ performed miracles and told people to keep quite. We hear leaders who say only what pleases the masses, yet Christ offended so many people that they crucified him. We have leaders who seek their own gain, yet Christ came and served until they killed him. We watch leaders operate by striking fear into the hearts of the people, yet Christ came and loved people. To become a great leader, we must not pursue charisma, power or popularity, we must seek humility. As we humble ourselves, as we lower ourselves, we will rise to be great leaders who lead people to a place where they can see Jesus more clearly. We lead, not to be powerful or likeable, but to bring people to a place where they can see the beauty of the Cross and wonder of God’s grace. We must lead like Christ.

He humbled himself to the point of death, as a way to lead people into life. The Great Shepherd lowered himself to become a lamb to be sacrificed for our redemption, and in His blood we are clean. He leads us to God’s grace by serving us, and we must lead in a similar manner that others who are lost in their sin may come to know His grace.