POWER PLAY

Over the last few years there has been a heart-wrenching number of high-profile leaders who have been exposed for abusing the power of their position. From Hollywood moguls to politicians and even church leaders, it seems that power really does corrupt. And yet, I cannot help but wonder whether the problem is power itself, or our warped perspective of what it means to lead. After all, electricity is a wonderful thing, but misused it can be deadly. In the same way, in any community or organization there will always be a need for someone to take the lead, but when a person misuses their position to control or abuse someone they’re leading, their power becomes destructive.

Many of us view leadership like a ladder. The higher you climb, the more power and influence you have. This perspective fuels a sort of superiority complex, where the people at the top can begin to see themselves as more important that those beneath them. And they can begin to treat those below them as nothing more than a means to an end, as people who are there to serve them.

But that’s not how God calls us to lead. Whereas the world tells us that the greatest deserve to be served, the way of Jesus tells us that the greatest in God’s Kingdom are the servants of all. In other words, the ladder is flipped upside down. Rather than climbing up, we climb down and the further we go in leadership, the more people we have to serve.

Jesus didn’t just teach this, he modeled it. He lived a life in service of others. He cared for the needs of the hurting even though they couldn’t repay him. He spoke up for those whom society ignored. He restored those whom society said were beyond redemption. He even washed his own disciples’ feet to drive the point home that they were to live a life of service, and shortly thereafter he modeled this value in the most powerful way ever: by sacrificing his own life on the cross to cleanse us of our sins.

So may we stop viewing leadership as a means to achieving our own goals, and treat it instead as a call to serve others. Because if service is beneath us, then leadership is beyond us.

“You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must be the slave of everyone else. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Mark 10:42-45