I am often tasked to make decisions and set direction for the family or one of my kids. Sometimes those decisions are fairly clear. Sometimes it is a bit hard. My duty as a parent and leader of my family is to try to make the decisions that are best for the family.
Each of my kids have their own idea of what is best for them. Sometimes I let them run with it so they can learn and grow, even if I know that path isn’t best for them. That experience will teach them more than I ever could as a father. That experience is what is best for them. But it’s hard to hear your kids talk about what they want and know that it isn’t what is best. Sometimes we have to step in and re-direct to a path that is better for them. My kids are smart, well meaning kids, but sometimes they just don’t know that it isn’t a good path.
As leaders at home, in our churches, in our jobs and in our communities, we are tasked to make some hard decisions. The easy path is to “go with the flow”, take polls, and follow what the majority wants. To look around and see what others are doing and follow their lead. But that is not always what is best for my family or the organization I am leading. We sometimes forget that we are individuals and each family, church, business, and organization has a life of its own. What works for some may not work for us. As leaders, we are challenged with the task of listening, observing, studying, and in the end, making a decision for what is best.
Far too often as parents and leaders, we begin to make decision not based on what is best for all, but what is best for me. What do I want? Where do I want to go? What is easiest for me? I’m tired and just don’t want to do that. Would it be good if my kid went to that camp or took that class? Yes, and it is probably what is best for them, but it means I would have to get them there and that is one more block of time out of my week. And the cost of that camp would mean that I can’t buy that new camera that I want. So I have to make a decision on what is best, not what I want. Sometimes what is best for that individual may not be what is best for the family as a whole. That is when these decisions get very difficult. As leaders, we have to make decisions based on what is best for the business or organization, not what my desires are. It is tempting to use our position to make decisions that would benefit me the most, even if it may not be best for the whole.
In a growing culture of “you do you and I’ll do me”, the value of servant leadership that Jesus taught and lived gets lost. When we do practice that servant leadership, there is often an ulterior motive of “I’ll serve you and you’ll serve me”. There is something we want to get from it, rather than serving because it is the right thing to do. I love it when the right thing is also the easiest thing, but that is not always the case. Sometimes the right thing is exactly what I want to do, but it usually lies somewhere between my desires and the wishes of others.
In Matthew chapter 20, a request is made of Jesus for two of his followers to be made more important than the others. There are a few instances where there were discussions among the apostles of who was the greatest, which just shows that this is not a new problem and is fairly normal. But the answer Jesus gave was not normal, and certainly not the answer they were looking for.
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.
Matthew 20: 26-28
This week, as we make decisions for our family and at our job, remember the servant leadership of Jesus.
