What Does it Mean to be a Leader?

By John Brentlinger

Guess if we really want to know, we should check with a real leader. Don't know many, but I do know one.

So Jesus called his disciples together and said: "You know how the leaders of the nations exert dominance over their people and how the great ones domineer over them; but - it shall not be so among you; whoever of you would be great, let him become your servant." Matthew 20:25-26

So what does it truly mean to be a leader? Seems from this passage that you can be a leader, a ruler, and be as far from great as the east is from the west, or as far as the Cleveland Browns are from the Super Bowl. But, I digress.

What is leadership? Is it accepting the benefits of the office, running around to parties, grinning like a wino on a three week drunk everytime there is a camera in
sight? Is it golfing every weekend, playing the big shot, acting out fantasies of personal power, using money taken by wrongful taxation of the people to jet around
the world, always in search of another vacation spot? Is it signing bills and passing laws that have no moral, ethical or righteous justification? Does it mean that when you take the reigns of leadership that there is no longer a difference between right and wrong?

Lest you get the idea that the above paragraph speaks only to the pseudo resident in the white house, think again. Name one person in Congress, the Senate, the White House, the czars, the heads of state, in either party, who does not fit those characteristics.

An old Chinese proverb says: "If you would know a man, give him authority." Well, they have been given authority, and now we know them. To a man, to a woman, and to
the in-between, we know them, and in the area of true leadership, they are abject failures. If it wasn't for using the power of the office for personal gain, individual aggrandizement, and daily jousting for more power, they would have nothing to do.

True leadership, as spoken by a true leader, is to be a servant to those in your care. What means that? It means that the needs of those in your care are more important than your own needs. It means as a leader, you do not come first. Your people do. It means that your time and life are not your own. Your priorities are supposed to be greater than that. Your purpose as a leader is to only do good for those whom you represent. Your duties as a leader have nothing to do with what you want, or what you want to become. Dominance and ruling over are not leading. A servant then, is the only person who is qualified to be a great leader.

Our country is full of great leaders; fathers who serve their families, putting the needs of their families before their own needs; mothers who serve their families, placing their own wants and needs on hold for oh, twenty years at least, just to make sure their children receive a good foundation for life; parents who work together for the good of the family; brothers and sisters who of necessity become surrogate parents to younger siblings.

Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen who serve their country, with precious little recognition, and from the media nitwits, mostly negative at that. Millions more
are serving daily, no newspaper gives them space, no television network highlights them, that is not why they serve. They serve because they have a servant's heart.
Knowing they are helping others is reward enough for them.

It is those true leaders, who by the millions are looking askance at the misfits in local, state and federal government who are not leaders and who are not leading, but simply playing the game with money earned by the real leaders in our country. Is it any wonder why most of us are soured on our government?

Great Sovereign God of the earth and the universe-- please send us some leaders.

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