5In the same way, Christ did not exalt himself to become a high priest, but God who said to him,You are my Son; today I have become your Father, 6also says in another place,You are a priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek.7During his earthly life, he offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. 8Although he was the Son, he learned obedience from what he suffered. 9After he was perfected, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him, 10and he was declared by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 5:5-10
Sacrifice is Leadership
God designed us to want to be exalted.
In Christian circles, this thought is difficult. Shoot, the Bible says, “God doesn’t share his glory with another.” Yes it does. And we will get to those verses this week.
But God made us in his image. There is an innate desire built inside of us to do well, receive accolades, move as high as we can.
If you are a Follower of Jesus, maybe you’ve stuffed your desire to achieve deep down inside. Release the desire. But do so in a way that allows God to do the exalting.
Jesus Waited to Be Exalted
Jesus did not exalt himself, even though he had every right to. He even allowed himself to go to the grave while waiting for God’s answer to his prayer. Jesus knew God’s exaltation will be better than anything he could do with his flesh.
If we pursue our exaltation on our own, we will have to keep it on our own. When we try to keep our exaltation on our own, we will do things to others we would never do otherwise.
True Leadership is Influence.
Influence is Presence.
Presence is Love.
Love is Sacrifice
Sacrifice is Leadership
Wait For God
To be a Leader who Sacrifices is to be a leader who doesn’t look to exalt yourself. You get things done. You work. You have ambition.
You also wait for God to do what he wants to do.
Because the one who waits for God is better equipped to treat those they lead as human beings instead of pawns. They’re leaders who are more empathetic to the every struggles of life. They’re leaders who have a preferred future, but they also want to care for those around them who are achieving the preferred vision with them.
Waiting on God to bring about his preferred future is hard. Harder short term than just getting it done on our own. Everything internally and externally screams to do it ourselves.
The leaders who wait on God have true Influence towards a preferred future. Because they are secure in the preferred future God has for them. Even if they can’t see it right now.
The goal is to lead you to engage with God’s Word so you can Hear & Follow Jesus in the everyday…especially in your leadership. Sign up for daily emails at the button below to receive the content in your inbox. You’ll receive a 1-minute email read with a link to a 5-minute blog read each day.