The God-honoring view of how a leader gains greatness is a mirror image of what most leaders assume. Read Matthew 20:20-28.

Jesus had a very intimate moment with His disciples in Matthew 17-19 when He laid out for them the treatment He would receive leading to His death in Jerusalem. He was making clear to them how He, the Son of God, would be called upon to sacrifice for those He led. He must have experienced some disappointment when in the following hours James and his brother John, two of His closest disciples, made a request (through their mother) for positions of power when He returned to heaven. Jesus’ response clearly defines His view of how a leader gains power.

Compassionate use of power and influence characterize God-honoring leaders. Read Matthew 8:5-13.

Jesus was becoming well known throughout Israel for His power to heal every sort of physical infirmity and illness. Even the occupying army of Rome could not avoid hearing of Jesus’ authority over powers that caused sickness. As Jesus entered Capernaum, a city which housed a Roman garrison, an officer sought out Jesus to ask Him to heal a household servant that had become paralyzed and who was living in terrible pain. When Jesus agreed to go with the solider to heal his servant, the man simply stated that he was not worthy to have Jesus to his house, but if Jesus simply spoke a command, the servant would be healed. He believed that Jesus had power and authority over every aspect of life and could command sickness to leave his servant and the spirit holding the servant in bondage would have to obey. This story clearly demonstrated a healthy use of power by both the Roman solider and Jesus.

God-honoring leaders use their power for the benefit of others, not exclusively for personal gain. Read Matthew 2:13-20.

Very few leaders in the Bible used their power in a more destructive and abusive way than King Herod. When he was informed that a Messiah, a Savior from God, was to be born in the region under his control, rather than submitting himself to the Messiah, he used his power to slaughter every child in the region below a certain age to eliminate any threat to his leadership. Herod’s abuse of power defined his legacy as a brutal murderer.

The wise leader develops and empowers other leaders to insure their leadership is not limited. Read Nahum 3:18-19.

In chapter 3, Nahum offers a lengthy proclamation of judgment and destruction on Nineveh. He begins in verse 1 by saying, “Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims.” At the end of chapter 3, God offers insight into one of the fatal weaknesses when He says, “O king of Assyria, your shepherds slumber; your nobles lie down to rest. Your people are scattered on the mountains with no one to gather them.” The leaders at the top of the Assyrian society had not developed other leaders, therefore the people were “scattered” with “no one to gather them.”

God’s leadership can be like a judge or a father depending upon the situation. Read Nahum 1:2-13.

Nahum had the task of prophesying against the most powerful people in the known world. God asked him to help the people living in Nineveh, the capitol city of the Assyrian Empire, to realize the cruelty they had inflicted on other nations, including Israel, was bringing judgment on them; their nation would be destroyed and the people either killed or taken into captivity. Nahum uses the picture of a father and that of a judge to help them understand the serious nature of God’s judgment in this situation.