SERVANTHOOD – THE CORE VALUE OF LEADERSHIP
Mark 10:42-44
42 But Jesus called them to him, and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them.
43 But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister:
44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.
We must have heard of the usual saying, “if you want to lead, then you must be ready to serve or if you are too small to serve then you are too small to lead”. One of the vital virtues a leader should possess is that of servant-hood. One must acknowledge that he or she is not in that post of leadership to be served but to serve others. From the Bible scriptures above, we see the greatest Leader of all times admonishing us…and whosoever shall be the chiefest of all, shall also be a servant. As leaders, we have followers, we are meant to serve them. Only when we serve them can we be served in return.
Who then is a Servant? A servant, from the word Service is someone who is sold out for the betterment of others, one who is keen in providing help in some manner. A servant is someone who serves another. So many of us take the role of leadership without understanding that we are in it to serve the needs of those under us whether we be leaders in the offices, churches, institutions, political posts, etc. To be an effective leader, you have to understand those that are placed under you. And there is no way you can do this without first coming down to their level. Let us look at the life of Apostle Paul. Paul was a minister called unto both the Jews and the Gentiles; he was thus a leader unto them. But the bible says in 1Corinthians 9:20-22 paraphrased; “And unto the Jews I became as a Jew, To them under the law as being under the law, to them without as being without”. Then in verse 22, we were made to understand he did all these things in order to gain these people. Hence, our leadership title is only a title to serve others; when we are called to take up certain offices, it is a call to service.
Let’s not confuse servant-hood with slavery. They are two different things. A slave is a person who is the property of another person and whose labour is subject to his owner. All slaves are servants but not all servants are slaves. Servant-hood is not considered slavery. When you are a slave, everything about you belongs to one person and that is your master but Servant-hood is you assuming a role in order to achieve something. Another thing is this, there is always a set-out goal when we assume service-hood but as a slave your all is to the will of your master. Servant-hood is all about service. To be great, you need to first become a servant. We have all confused that word “to serve” to mean slavery but in actual sense they do not mean the same thing. Slavery is more or less bondage; there is no will, there is no power. Every leader in the world today has one way or the other served before. No man gets to a leadership position without first going through the school of service; but we all forget when we get there, that to sustain leadership also, service is needed. To be a servant, there must be something you are delivering to others. True leaders don’t just stop at being leaders, they train others to be the same thus enrolling others in that same school of service. True leader don’t make people slaves but load them with traits of service-hood. Many leaders we have today, especially our political leaders are in it for themselves-power, fame and money, there is no art of servant-hood in them; that’s why we are where we are as a country.When a person with a slavery mentality is being entrusted with power, he will definitely misuse it or abuse it, never give someone with a slavery mentality power, it is destructive. If you have the understanding that I am in this for the betterment of those under me and not for myself alone, the world will be a better place to live in.
TO BE CONTINUED
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