Reflection: Â Leaders and Control
Everyone pursues something in life, and that is natural. The desire to be in control is hardwired in every individual from birth. When one assumes a leadership position, however, the magnitude is escalated by virtue of the power and authority they possess.
Think of individuals with meticulous attention to detail. If they become leaders, they can be prone to the tendency to micro-manage every person within their team or division to ensure compliance with their idiosyncratic standards of excellence in every area. Behind the veneer of this overpowering approach to leadership is a craving for control that has gone berserk. It becomes their pursuit of life, the source of comfort (or anxiety), and the object of worship. They find it much easier to play god than to obey God.
The gospel of Jesus Christ helps us to deal with our idolatry of control. Our incessant need to be in control will begin to diminish when we realize that Jesus Christ, who is sovereign over all creation, voluntarily abandoned control when he left his glory to come to the world and take our place on the cross. We have the courage to jettison our craving for control because we now can put our lives in total surrender to the risen Servant King.
Prayer:Â Merciful God, we often think we are in control of our lives and our world. But as created, limited, and corrupted beings, we are merely under the illusion of control. Help me to surrender to Christ, by whom, through whom, for whom all things in heaven and on earth, including us, were created.