Servant Leadership Versus Entitlement
"Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant." -Matthew 20:26
I walked into the store toward the customer service counter and waited for a few minutes. I was next in line, but to my surprise, a store employee walked right up to the customer service desk when the register became open and made a purchase. The cashier saw me and told the employee, who said something about the fact that there were two lines, and I was in the other one. I wasn't about to fight with an employee for a place in line, so I let him go ahead. It was a horrible example of customer service, but a great example of entitlement.
There is a consensus in our world today that we are becoming more and more entitled. Smartphones, personal computers, social media, video games, media, entertainment, and marketing have increasingly made it all about me, me, me! We think if we're alive we're entitled to success, happiness, or greatness. But this mentality is directly contradictory to what Jesus taught. It is in fact, in direct opposition to true success.
When I worked for a department store, it was our policy to do anything within our power to make the customer happy, even if it meant returning a used item. Related to how we think about others, Jesus made it clear to "love one another as we love ourselves." That means doing to another what you would want to be done to you. And even more than that, putting God before ourselves and others. What would He want us to do? How would He want us to serve someone else?
If we are to make a mark in the world for God's kingdom, we can't live entitled. We must learn to live as "a servant of all." When we learn this, often other things follow - such as financial increase and meaningful relationships. However, those things aren't the goal - they are the natural result of service.
Are you a servant leader? I pray each of us can find more ways of serving one another, and letting love be our ultimate goal.
Related resource: The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership: Follow Them and People Will Follow You, by John C. Maxwell
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