Effective leadership requires humility (James 1:9; 1 Pt
5:6). A leader with a humble heart demonstrates a discerning, hearing heart[1] as illustrated by Solomon’s request upon becoming king of Israel (1 Kings 3:8).
The person with a discerning and hearing heart submits to and obeys the
indwelling Holy Spirit residing in believers in Jesus Christ (Rom 8:11, 15:13).
The Holy Spirit provides specific and general guidance with the humble leader
through various modes such as promptings, circumstances, and other people.
Pride, arrogance, greed (2 Tim 3:1–5), complacency, and
fruit of the flesh (Gal 5:19–21) contradict God. Leaders who demonstrate these
qualities possess inaccurate hearing and discernment.
These self-centered
attributes increase leaders’ desires to speak instead of Christo-centrically
listening to God and humans, as well as accurately evaluating messages within
their proper contexts.
The heart humble before Christ (1 Pt 5:6) fully pursues God,
who releases everything, in all dimensions, congruent with His will (Mt 6:33).
Acknowledging and praising Christ, who possesses the entirety of creation and
eternity, assures that one’s heart remains in Him (Lk 12:34).
Love-derived
praise and obedience to Christ directs the synchronous leading of those whom God
assigns to the leader to guide (Mt 22:37–40). The leader’s effectiveness highly
correlates with receiving and activating the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22–23).
The antithesis of effective leadership is the fruit of the flesh (Gal 5:19–21), leading others to darkness (Prov.
1:8–19) instead of to the light of Christ.
Background
The person with prudence seeks the proper context of
messages to assure accurate discernment. Social media posts reflect microcosms
of leadership and society, including the inaccurate responses because of improperly
defining the context.
For example, social media posters highly criticized the
blank facial expression of Eli Manning, the younger brother of Denver Bronco’s
quarterback Peyton Manning, following Denver’s touchdown near the end of Super
Bowl 50.
The criticizers accused Eli of being jealous of Peyton,
since a Denver win would enable Peyton to match Eli’s two Super Bowl victories
as quarterback of the New York Giants.[2]
Yet Eli said people misread him; he was wondering only whether
Denver should go for the two-point conversion. The criticism and conviction
arose from arrogance, pride, and complacency preventing viewers and listeners from
considering all factors to attain the situation’s full context.
Humility-derived submission, obedience, acknowledgement and
praise of Jesus Christ directs one’s relationships with those whom God assigns
us through His word and His will.
Effective leadership requires humility, by
the power of the Holy Spirit, to synchronously lead and serve God’s people with
effective listening, discernment and seeking the proper context to always serve
and glorify God.
Therefore, the effective leader—individually and within the
organization—creates and encourages a culture of humility before God. The effective knows the purpose of hearing and obeying is to serve and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ.
[1] Thomas L. Constable, “1 Kings,” ed. J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck, The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An
Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985), 494.
[2] O'Leary, Daniel. Eli
on Super Bowl face: I was thinking about going for two MSN Sports.
February 09, 2016. http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl
(accessed February 09, 2016).
