1. They don’t provide security for others.
2. They take more than they give.
3. They continually limit their best people.
4. They continually limit or sabotage their organization’s success.
5. They spend more energy trying to keep their job than doing their job.

Effective leadership begins with an emotionally and spiritually healthy leader. Why is this true? Why must we focus on our personal security? Consider several reasons:

1. Leadership must flow out of “being,” not merely “doing.”
2. Strong character is necessary to sustain strong conduct.
3. Insecure leaders cause their organizations to plateau.
4. Personal security provides the infrastructure to support leaders in adversity.
5. Insecure leaders will never empower and develop secure followers.
6. Inward strength provides the only hope of finishing well.

Most of us struggle with feelings of insecurity. Leadership roles, however, work like a magnifying glass on our personal insecurity, blowing everything out of proportion because we know everyone is watching. We tend to react by trying to cover up our flaws, rather than being honest. This is yet another reason why leaders must commit to laying a strong foundation for personal security.

None of us ever grows beyond four fundamental human needs:

1. A sense of Worth – if missing, we feel inferior.
2. A Sense of Belonging – if missing, we feel insecure.
3. A Sense of Purpose – if missing, we feel illegitimate.
4. A Sense of Competence – if missing, we feel inadequate.

How then should we respond to these crucial issues?

1. Leaders should settle this issue with God before they reach positions of influence.
2. Our personal worth and security must come from our “secret history” with God.
3. We should never place our emotional health in the hands of another.
4. We must release people from the expectation that they will meet our basic needs.

We become healthy leaders only when we don’t expect others to meet the needs that only God can meet.

Devotional thoughts of John Maxwell. This reminds me to really evaluate on how I respond to issues, threats, and things people are looking for reactions to. Standing strong and using these leadership skills shows that we are really skilled in knowing others needs first.

Matthew 2:1-18

The Magi Visit the Messiah

2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi^[a] from the east came to Jerusalem ² and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

³ When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. ⁴ When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. ⁵ “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:

⁶ “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
    are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;
for out of you will come a ruler
    who will shepherd my people Israel.’^[b]”

⁷ Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. ⁸ He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”

⁹ After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. ¹⁰ When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. ¹¹ On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. ¹² And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

The Escape to Egypt

¹³ When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

¹⁴ So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, ¹⁵ where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”^[c]

¹⁶ When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. ¹⁷ Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:

¹⁸ “A voice is heard in Ramah,
    weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
    and refusing to be comforted,
    because they are no more.”^[d]

Service to others is the highest pinnacle humanity ever scales. Jesus stood on this pinnacle humanity ever scales. Jesus stood on this pinnacle of greatness when He took a washbasin and towel and performed a lowly act of washing His disciples’ feet. He removed all doubt as to His intent when He said, “Since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you… Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them’ (John 13:14-15, 17).

Jesus describes a great paradox – that the way up is down. “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant’ (Mark 10:43), True greatness is expressed in serving, not in dominating. Service is a mark of greatness.

Take time to pray.

Thank Jesus for His willingness to clean your filthy soul just as He cleaned the disciples’ filthy feet;

Ask God to show you whom you can serve, and how.

When you take the time, reflect:

What does Jesus call true greatness?

Respecting the Lord. It shows that you believe.

Describe a time when you saw someone follow Jesus’ example of humble service in a way you admired.

Those that stand out to me is those that go out of their way to help others. Either in their work, talents or in the community.

The message of John 13 is not reinstitute the ancient custom of foot washing but to serve one another in everyday, menial ways. What are some humble acts of service that you could do?

Read these passages for further study on service:

Isaiah 58:10

and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.

Matthew 20:26-28

Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, ²⁷ and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— ²⁸ just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

Galatians 5:13

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh^[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love.

Devotional thoughts by Gary Chapman. Christ always shows me more examples of how I can be greater and more humble. What do you learn?