Honored Unhealthiness
In the comments to the recent “Below the Line” post, I mentioned the cult of leadership. My friend who left another comment there has written a lot on that subject. I'm thinking of some Christian leaders of renown I have been around enough to observe their spouses or children and witnessed this relationship of high achievement held in high honor by the constituency and price paid by family. Most of the time it was unclear if the sacrifices were made willingly or grudgingly, but the the result was quite clear.
I'm coming to the conclusion that the cult of leadership not only is off base in that it encourages everybody to be a leader, but also because leadership is not even something those gifted in that direction should aspire to. It is a place God will place a person at the right time and under the appropriate circumstances. The opportunity will be presented and the potential leader should then step up to the plate and accept it. But I am coming to believe that to strive for it is wrong and it is sin. It is contrary to the many many times in scripture we are instructed to practice humility (ex: James 4:10, 1 Peter 5:6) . As I've said before, one of the first things a student of the Bible is taught is that when something is repeated in scripture, it has special significance. I can't think of anything more often repeated in the Bible than the concept of humility and the flip side that the thing most despised by God is pride. (ex: The fall of Lucifer) The Christian leaders I have observed that have gained my utmost respect got into their place of visibility by the specific placement of God. Others that seemed to get there by their own initiative generally maintained an appearance of humility, but not far under the surface one could see they were quite full of themselves. I have been one of those.
So, I think what I'm hearing from God on this is to relax and live a humble life. If and when he has some high task for you to do he will give you the vision, present the opportunity and supply the resources. It will be a situation where you absolutely know it is a “God thing” and not of your own invention and you will know that to say “no” is to deny God. I have experienced that as well and the only lasting results of any value came from such a situation. Being a true leader is entered into with fear and trembling and a great sense of the danger and price to be paid by anyone in range. One should never commit to such without the best understanding possible of one's family and friends and without their commitment of support to the cause. Otherwise I have great doubt that the achievement can be worth the price it will cost and humility will be impossible to maintain through the process. You will be humble sooner or later. It may be in a healthy way all the way along, or it may be an unhealthy sickening experience coming down at the end looking back on devastation. As the crowd erects a monument to honor your greatness.
addendum: By being humble I don't mean being lazy and doing nothing. My mentor in film production in college used to say, “There is a prepared place for a prepared person.” When our time comes, we need to be ready.
posted by wingman at 2:12 PM
5 Comments:
How right you are, my friend. I too have been there, & done that.
Reluctant leaders are often the best leaders. IIRC, George Washington wasn't interested in being the first president. Moses probably thought he was being noble when he murdered the Egyptian. He endured intense humility training before he could say, "Who am I that I should go unto Pharoah and that I should bring forth the children of Isreal out of Egypt?"
I like the John Wooden book on leadership. Great Christian, great man.
I think you have to not be too sensitive when being a leader. You have to be able to make decisions that rise above feelings and humility into the role of greatness and accomplishment for the group or mission.
Initative is a God thing, initative is based upon the skills and talents God gives us. If we think we need divine inspiration for every decision or initative we make, some people who cannot see the signs will be waiting a long time. The inner voice of the right or wrong thing to do can be contradicted with being too passive. We have to stop hedging the politics of a situation and stand up for what we believe in.
It is a tough balance, but that is what leaders do.
Point well taken, Lance. You bring attention to two important things: the group and the mission. The group points to the concept of service and servanthood to the others in the group with their best interest in mind. The mission or situation points to the job that needs to be done, what I called the opportunity that presents itself. A true leader will focus on these things, not his own leadership potential or opportunity to shine. My opinionated outburst was mostly against the idea of wanting to lead for the sake of being a leader - a focus on the leadership instead of the task at hand or the stakeholders who need service. I do know that many of the leadership books, etc., have many good things to glean that are valuable and right. I just played devil's advocate a bit because I think all that has gotten blown out to where the focus is easily shifted to the wrong thing. Your comment shows where it should be.
"Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you." And one has only to look at the way God appointed "judges" or leaders in the O.T. (as pointed out, above with Moses), and read about the working of the Spirit in the lives of Peter, Paul, etc. to realize the truth that God appoints leaders. To read about the "7 Characteristics of Leaders" or the "10 Steps of Leadership" usually does lead to having one try to act the part of the leader, without the call. You can easily end up with despotism. There is mission leadership: when there is a need to get the mission accomplished and someone needs to get the group centered on the task (for example - often the male's responsibility in the spiritual develpoment of the family) and "born" leadership - one who has a personality that others want to follow, for whatever reason. Those books usually call to focus on the latter - so I agree with your rail against such material.
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