The Call to Leadership
“The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:13)
This is a good time to reflect on the call to leadership: there has been a global disruption that saw schools and churches transfer to homes, and businesses and governments heavily adjust their plans. Even at family and personal levels, this season has imposed a situation that calls for leadership – leading in the context of disruptions and new opportunities. In Uganda, there are more districts, more cities, more constituencies; and at Kakumba Chapel and several other Churches, there will soon be general meetings to elect new members to Church Councils and committees. The call to leadership is real and loud, and in some way each one of us needs to hear and respond to this call.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics indicates that Entropy increases with time (or at least stays constant, but does not decrease). Entropy is the lack of order or predictability, or gradual decline into disorder or chaos. This seems to be true in real life, and points to the need for leaders. By definition, leadership is the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. John Maxwell put it this way: A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way and shows the way. This exercise reduces entropy in society and enables people to progress and achieve in bigger ways than if there were no leaders. It is also an insurance against people destroying themselves as a result of increasing chaos and disorder. I say it again: the call to leadership is real and loud, and in some way each one of us needs to hear and respond to this call.
However, before answering the call of you leading others, concentrate on you leading yourself – this is an essential duty. Many challenges start here, and many successes start right here! Marcus Aurelius, a second century Roman Emperor and Stoic philosopher illustrates this: rather than spending his time trying to learn to rally and guide others, he focused a surprising amount of his energy on mastering self-leadership. Even Moses the great prophet and leader of the Exodus spent a lot of time leading himself – in lengthy retreats. There are many examples of failures that begin with failed self-leadership, and many of success beginning with effective self-leadership.
Listening is one important lesson we can take from Moses in Exodus 12. He listened, and Israel needed to listen to life-saving instructions. Think about the lamb, the blood and the deliverance: these instructions still carry a great message for us today in the New Testament. Lead yourself and others to behold and receive the Saviour Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God by whose blood we get our deliverance both now and for eternity.
God bless you all.