Leadership is a Choice

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What is our Default

Whenever a new tech product comes out—let’s say a smartphone—it’s delivered to you in default mode. From there, you have almost endless options for customization: new cases, personalized settings, additional apps, etc. However, if you ever need to sell it again, or if something goes wrong and it needs to be reset, it’s going to go right back to where it started: default mode.

We need to realize that we have default modes too, and unfortunately, our default mode is almost always serving ourselves, not others.

However we have been given a choice, we do not have to continue to follow our default settings.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

This passage informs us that if we are believers in Jesus then we are no longer the same person.

Since we are no longer the same person we should have a new default setting, where we are no long set to serve ourselves but our programming should be changing so that we are now looking for ways to serve other people.

Leaders have a part to play

Not only do have leaders have to serve others to truly be successful, but also they have to remember that even though they are a leader they have a part to play, and without others also fulfilling their part, then nothing gets accomplished.

Romans 12:3–4 (NIV)

Humble Service in the Body of Christ

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. 4 For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function,

This passage is in reference to the body of Christ and a church, but I believe that it also fits within leadership.

Leaders do play an important part of any group, team, or company, but if a leader begins to think that it is all about them and no one else, we can see very quickly that group, team or company will not last for very long.

Leadership is a Choice

Leadership, at its core, requires service and sacrifice. Maybe you’ve been told “you’re a leader,” or maybe you have an official position or title, but that isn’t leadership. Leadership is the choice you make to serve others and sacrifice what you want, regardless of whether you have the position or not. If we’re honest with ourselves, that’s not just going to happen, it isn’t our default setting. If we are going to lead, we have to make a choice to do so over and over again.

Joshua 24:14–18 (NIV)

14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”

16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”

In this passage, Joshua knows he is near the end of his life, so he gathers the tribes of Israel together to remind them of what God has done and ask them to renew their commitment to the Lord. As you read, notice how important Joshua thinks this choice is. Israel has been following him and God for a while, they’ve seen him do mighty things, and they’re finally entering the Promised Land, but Joshua isn’t just going to assume they’ll choose to serve the Lord. He makes sure to lead the way by choosing to serve God himself.

In the same way that Joshua chose to serve God himself first, and then allow the people of Israel to follow his example, we have to make sure that we are doing what is right first, before we can ever expect someone else to do the right thing.

If you are wanting to be a leader you have to make a daily choice am I someone that is worth following, and daily you have to decide are you going to make decisions that will help others become better, or will people who follow you become worse by following your example?