what makes a good leader?

Humility.

Leaders have natural abilities. It’s in their blood and they know it. By very virtue of this, leaders will often push back on criticism.

A leader who commits to the scriptures as guidance will see this and allow the Lord to help. This is the first part of humility – humility before God – acknowledging what He says when we don’t like it.

Imagine for a moment, that everything a leader is trying to accomplish, is stifled and limited because of a lack of humility.

God has a lot to say about humility. There is a cause and effect relationship. Humility releases something powerful in our lives. It affects the leader but it also affects those who are being led.

For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted …

God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble …

The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, “The LORD is just” …

I restore the crushed spirit of the humble and revive the courage of those with repentant hearts …

Because Rehoboam humbled himself, the LORD’s anger turned from him …

Because your heart was responsive and you humbled yourself before the LORD …

The second part of humility is a natural outcome of the first part: humility with those who are being led.

It is a great responsibility to be a leader. Leaders feel the weight. Leadership is a powerful position in government, businesses, churches, communities, families, and even within our friend groups.

This writing prompt is very timely because in recent years there’s been a lot of writing on the topic of spiritual abuse. Some have been hurt by church leadership. I’ve been thinking about it and will write my thoughts next time.