"So the king got up and sat in the gate, and all the people were told: 'Look, the king is sitting in the gate.' Then they all came into the king's presence."
2 Samuel 19:8
Joab, commander of king David's troops, came to the king and reprimanded him for grieving over his son's death. The king's actions had made all of his troops feel as though they had lost the battle they had just victoriously returned from. So the king, even in his time of grief, had to console his whole army and put his own lamentations aside.
Being a leader requires a great deal of sacrifice, quite frequently of a highly personal nature. Even small-scale leadership, such as that of a parent or teacher, involves dramatic changes in priority, which often ends up meaning that some personal needs are going
- pause so my wife can check her Facebook before bed -
unmet. A truly fantastic leader is one who ends up shifting his/her personal desires in such a way that they align more with the needs of his/her subjects rather than his/her own.
Question of the Day:
We are all leaders in some way or another, whether we know it or not. In what way(s) are you a leader, and which personal needs are being sacrificed regularly to meet the needs of those you lead? Do you react to these priority shifts in the way King David did, with calm collection and a strong sense of duty? Or do you react instead out of your own selfish desires? What can you do to shift further away from selfishness and closer to true servant leadership?
Prayer of the Day:
Lord, create a new heart within me. Make it a servant's heart, so that I may be the leader You have called me to be. Redirect my personal desires, reshape my personal interests, redesign my personal habits so that I may put the needs of my family and my students above my own. Guide me in appropriately prioritizing each individual need of each of these people, and keep my eyes pointed at the ultimate goal of leading them all closer to You and Your Kingdom. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment