Great leaders serve. Poor leaders take. 

Great leaders enrich others. Poor leaders enrich themselves. 

Great leaders are humble. Poor leaders are arrogant. 

Great leaders create trust. Poor leaders enforce control.

These lessons must be learned and taught again and again. 

Every generation has to wrestle with these truths. Those who refuse to learn from the past, you may have heard, tend to make the same mistakes of those who have gone before them. Smart people learn from their mistakes. Wise people learn from the mistakes of others. 

Today is Saturday. This is a day most folks look forward to all week long in part because we get to make our own decisions. No one is bossing us around. Well, maybe a spouse has a list of stuff to do ASAP. Otherwise, we can do whatever we want. The yard does need to be mowed. The garage does need to be cleaned out. The laundry does need to be done. But as soon as those things are finished, we can watch golf, baseball, and hockey, and eat junk and just relax.

Tomorrow is Sunday. We will learn about Jesus who knelt to serve, who, for our sakes, became poor, who humbled himself even to the point of putting on human flesh and dying on a cross, and who picked up his fallen followers and helped them begin again more intelligently. He was a great leader. 

He still is. 

If I want to become a great leader, I need to learn how to lead like Jesus. 

I need to serve.

I need to invest in others.

I need to humble myself.

I need to create trust.

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I will live this Saturday in the light of Sunday and the recognition that before I can lead others with integrity and authority, I have to follow the leadership style of Jesus at all times in everything I do.

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Our Father, teach me how to lead like Jesus. Make me a servant leader. Empower me to invest in others. Remind me of the necessity of humility. Make me ever more trustworthy. Amen.