If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. – John 13:17
Jesus spoke these words to His disciples in the midst of the upper room experience. While the disciples had been clamoring for a favorable position in Jesus’ kingdom hierarchy, the Master had been impressing upon them the need to “flip the organizational chart.” Leaders in the kingdom of our Lord and Savior would be servants both in heart and in deed, not rulers. The blessings that come from knowing the King should be spread abroad through service.
Climbing the political, social, or economic ladder will never bring ultimate fulfillment, because there is always one more rung. True blessing is found in holding the ladder for others (through coaching, mentoring, and serving) in order that they might achieve God’s best. The door may not always be open to lead, but it is always wide-open to serve.
The authority by which the Christian leader leads is not power but love, not force but example, not coercion but reasoned persuasion. Leaders have power, but power is safe only in the hands of those who humble themselves to serve. – John Stott
