Serve or lead? ...

Tuesday, March 19, 2013. Do you want to serve or do you want to lead? That is often considered to be the alternative. Is it one? We will see that the whole situation needs to be approached from a different viewpoint!

Serve or lead??? …

In this image of servants and leaders, there are those who serve on the one side, and those who lead on the other. Sometimes we think of some king in the medieval ages, who had his nice throne, and then there are the servants running around and doing what he wants. That is the image of the “old times”. But how is it today?

Today we have another image. There are those with many millions on their account. They can fly 1st class. They can afford to take the expensive hotels. They can go into the nice parks, into fancy restaurants everywhere in the world. And you have the servants, those who clean the rooms, those who serve the food, those who protect and organize.

Images of leadership influence our motivation and our decisions. Today, we have many casting shows, which influence our young people strongly. They show ordinary people who gain the lead. They sing, or dance, or play - and by doing it well, they win. They influence many others, they are in the media, they earn money … is that the template we can use to think about the world?

The King serves! …

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Jesus is showing us another image. He is destroying the illusions, which we have about leadership and about winning. He is cleaning up our mind and our heart with what he says and with what he does!

Jesus is the king. He is the son of God. He is the most high. He was part of creation, what there when the earth had been made. But he is coming into his creation as a simple man. He is serving - both as a missionary as well as in his death at the cross. His words and activities are actions of service, completely!

Jesus shows us, that those who want to win, need to learn to serve. He shows us that there is much more in service, than we usually think. He shows us that love can be the guiding principle of life. And love needs service, love is full of dedication and help and attention and serving actions.

Jesus shows us that we need to turn the world around. Not having a lot of money is important, but finding friendliness which comes deep from a heart. Not commanding others is important, but finding solutions which improve the life of everyone. Not being the leader is important, but giving great things to those around you and to the world as a whole. Love is the center of the universe. (Roland Potthast) ... more texts