(January 18, 2014)
Reading through this, I was struck with certain elements of leadership (both politically, within the family, within the Church, and likely in the Eternities). Ultimately, how does one lead when the interaction is between equals? Between co-equal children of God in the world? Between co-equal partners in a marriage? Between immortal, eternal beings at any level (here and hereafter)?
Leadership in the sense of the arm of flesh is imposed in a top-down fashion, but that cannot last (and doesn’t work here). After all, if we base our leadership upon position (that we won’t always hold) or power (that was given to us, and which cannot be exercised unrighteously), then all of those things don’t present a valid mechanism for leading.
Leadership, in its proper sense, must be an issue of trust. All of the factors that we look to in our understanding of leadership – persuasion, long-suffering, gentleness, meekness, love unfeigned – aren’t just good ideas for leadership, but are rather the only mechanism by which leadership can be exercised without inappropriately overrunning another’s agency. It is difficult to do, but there really is no other way to lead.
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