Who’re making successful?

I’m in the midst of compiling the top ten lessons I learned when I went through my near death experience a few years ago. An important lesson is coming to the question “Who am I making successful – myself or others?”

Jesus repeatedly said, “If you want to find your life you must lose your life.” Looking back I now realize I had it backwards. I spent decades making myself successful, all the while thinking I was becoming a better “leader.” I believe much of our absorption with leadership, in the Church as well as the culture at large, amounts to the justification of selfish desires that fly in the face of Jesus’ words and example.

What can you do today to obey Jesus? In all our lives, God has placed people who feel like anything but successful. Your job and mine is to come alongside those he has assigned to us to offer lift them up.

Maybe some of the leadership books you’ve been reading will come in handy as you promote others into the limelight you used to live in.

Making deals with God, The way of influence, I Can See The Future

Posted by Steve Sjogren
Filed under Challenging, Coaching

2 comments

1 Doug { 02.03.12 at 10:59 am }: I wonder if there is something inherently godly in the corporatist model. Since I have been working for a fortune 30 blue chip corporation I have noted a humility common to the top leadership that I lack. I come from an entrepenurial family where everything is about me and ego. I wonder if anyone has given serious thought to the need to loose yourself toclimb the corporate ladder in Americaand how thatrelates to Jesus. Specifically did Jesus put theladder there?
2 Melinda Nelson { 02.04.12 at 3:47 am }: “Consider others more highly than yourself.”
I’ve often wondered why this Scripture isn’t a favorite in the church. And this entry of yours is a wonderful reminder of an upside-down theology that Jesus espoused.