Jesus and Leadership

When most people think of leadership, they often tend to think of someone being in charge telling everyone else what to do. But I don't think this is a very accurate picture of Biblical leadership. To Jesus, leadership was all about serving others. One of the best examples we have of Jesus demonstrating servant leadership is in John 13 where He washes the feet of His disciples. Foot washing was usually done by a servant or child as a sign of hospitality to travelers entering a home. But in this case, although there was a basin of water and towel, there was no servant or child in the room to wash feet. Jesus modeled servant leadership to His disciples by washing their feet and not only that, but He challenged them to go and do likewise. In John 13:14-15 Jesus tells His disciples, "And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. ¹⁵ I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you." To a group of men who were always arguing about who among them was the greatest, Jesus laid out a pretty clear model of greatness. A model of serving. The greatest leaders are those who serve others and not the other way around. If you consider yourself a leader in any way, today I challenge you to be a servant leader. Serve those around you and follow the pattern Jesus gave to us. I know I'm challenged to become a better leader, and I think this is where it starts :)