We live in a day of self-gratification, ease, and leisure. We want the prize, but we don’t want to have to pay the price. This is no better exemplified than in the lottery craze where one hopes a $2 ticket will provide a $200 million return– we want it all…but we don’t want to have to pay for it! Yet, there are no short cuts to real success. Success in any endeavor demands our all. Quinton Hogg, founder of the London Polytechnic Institute, was asked how much it had cost him to build this great institution said, “Not very much, simply one man’s life.” The cost of successful leadership is expensive.
As Christians, Jesus sets the standard for leadership! It is not self-gratification, but self-denial–which was culminated for Him on the cross: “You know that those who are recognized as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them; and their great men exercise authority over them. But it is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant; and whoever wishes to become first among you shall be the slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many,” (Mk. 10:42-45).
Our calling as leaders, whether in our homes, at work, or in our churches, is to become a servant. Now, this will cost us our lives, because we’ve chosen to lay our lives down for others. But, we also will reap the true joy and blessing of serving–something that winning the lottery will never produce!
Biblical leadership carries a price, but it also yields a marvelous fruit. May God grant us the grace to use our positions of leadership as a place to serve others– which is what brings honor to Him-and lasting contentment to us!
-Bob Boerner