God's grand scheme of things rests upon a structure of putting in human leadership in every organisation or movement. When God wants to do something, He uses a leader to have His will to be done.
In the Bible, God used great leaders to advance His kingdom and glory—leaders like David, Gideon, Paul and Elijah. But at the same time, God used terrible leaders as well, like Pharaoh in Moses' time, Nebuchadnezzar, and Saul to name just a few. No matter who was on top, God was still in charge.
This translates today into our daily living. Whether they're national leaders, pastors, bosses or managers, we won't always agree with what our leaders always stand for. But we know for a fact that God is still working through them. So how are we now to respond?
Love Your Leader
It's easy to love a leader who is charismatic, God-fearing and well equipped. But how do we treat leaders who do not have those qualities? To us Christians, God's command to love is simple: It's got to be unconditional. Jesus commands us to "love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:31) He even tells us to love our enemies and persecutors. (Matthew 5:44)
Whichever part of the spectrum our leader belongs—whether we consider him an enemy—God calls us to love. That love will then become the motive for all we do to and for them.
Submit To Your Leader
Romans 13:1 commands us, "Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God."
Because any authority established is God's ultimate authority, the best response to a leader is trust, if not towards earthly authority then to the spiritual authority that establishes it.
The only time we are called to not submit and obey our leader is when it leads us to go against God's commands. Otherwise, we have no reason not to abide by rules and regulations set by our leaders.
Try To Correct Your Leader
One of the hardest things we can ever do, but something we must do nonetheless when presented with the responsibility to do so, is to correct our leader. Being in authority doesn't make anyone perfect. Leaders need correction, too, and it can come from the people they lead.
In my personal walk, I have found it more than helpful to occasionally receive correction from people I am assigned to lead. Your leader just might need your correction today as well. You can lead your north by trusting in the highest authority who is God to lead you to give correction the right way.
