Less is More

Today's devotional made me reflect back on some things that happened over the weekend. On Saturday I went to this workshop/training thing for people who are going to be Freshmen orientation leaders for my college's "WOW" or Week of Welcome program. The set up of the week is that two leaders lead a group of ten to fifteen incoming freshmen by taking them to various events, showing them their new environment at college, and befriending them.

There was one point in this workshop that stuck out to me though. At one point, the people leading the workshop asked all of us there what type of leaders we wanted to be and what we wanted to happen during that week with the freshmen. Many of the responses were things such as "I want all my freshmen to love me" or "I want to be the best WOW leader". These desires in and of themselves are generally good desires (it would be quite strange if you instead wanted all the freshmen to hate you and to be the worst leader) but when these desires become one's ultimate focus rather than bringing out the best in others is where I think leadership can begin to fall apart.

When we focus only on ourselves and being the "best leaders" or being loved by campers, the week becomes about us and our glorification rather than the glorification of God and the empowerment of others. Becoming the most loved leader does not create community among campers and challenge campers to a deeper relationship with God. At times this can even cause the people who are being led to step back further into their comfort zones as the leader takes care of everything.

Our focus as leaders should never be ourselves if we want to truly bring out the best in others. We need to focus on less of ourselves and instead look more to building up those around us and inspiring them to embrace the unbridled love of Christ. Let us not focus on ourselves but on the glory of God and all that He does in our lives and the lives around us. Less of me and more of you God.