COME ON-WE ARE ALL EQUAL

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"“You all have a single Teacher, and you are all classmates” (Matthew 23:8, The Message). 

For leaders to have peaceful, effective, impacting, and successful tenure, and for that success to endure, leadership must be seen as a privilege, a grace given by God. Whether in the home, at work, in the community or in the corridors of government, leadership is ever a privilege. Even if you were born with your name written in gold as the next leader in any estate, you would be getting there because God made the grace of life available to you. 

A person no less than Jesus said, "you are all classmates". In other words both the leader and the led are equal. Jesus is eminently qualified to tell us this because He was the one who created both the leader and the led, and he was the one who placed them accordingly. It follows therefore that it is wisdom for leaders to see themselves only as first among equals. It is like the popular saying that all animals are equal, only that some are more equal than others. 

In the light of the above, the exercise of leadership must be carried out with a sizeable degree of humility. Since Jesus said we all are classmates, it means that the leader is no more than a class captain who is subject to the same rules that govern activities in the class. He must write the same exams as other members of the class and of course study hard if he must pass like others. 

The simple meaning of all the above is that leaders must remember that they are not angels or supermen from another world. They are humans just like the other men they are presiding over. The leader that fails to take heed to this truth will soon be out of sync with reality and could thereby cut short his effectiveness, and indeed his leadership tenure and legacy. 

Even though Jesus was addressing the disciples, the lessons taught are universally applicable. Leadership should not be seen as a tool for domination, or worse still, oppression as it is common among ungodly leaders. God created leadership as a vehicle for service. Wherever you have found yourself as a leader, use the occasion to serve those who are under you and never to use the people to serve yourself.