Readings: IS 1:10, 16-20; PS 50:8-9, 16BC-17, 21 AND 23; MT 23:1-12
Unfortunately, many of us have experienced people in leadership positions that simply were not good leaders. Their poor leadership might have been because they focused on themselves, rather than being a servant. As we hear in today’s gospel reading:
The greatest among you must be your servant.
Especially in government, we hear “leaders” talk much about being servant to the people. But in too many cases, they are actually being servant to their own desires, their own ambitions. And often, I don’t think they started that way. The devil has a way of changing people, changing their motives, and turning them into what the devil wants. And that is for us to be separated from God.
But that is not a problem only for people in leadership positions. It is a problem each of us can and do experience. How do we keep from falling into the devil’s trap? How do we avoid these temptations?
It is difficult. It is hard. It is impossible on our own. We need God’s help. The first step is to recognize we will be tempted. And once we recognize this, we can prepare ourselves to do battle. We need prayer. We need to think about those temptations in advance, so when we are tempted, we are prepared to do battle. We may not always win, but the more battles we encounter, the more we rely on Jesus, the more often we’ll win. So be a servant to Jesus, and you will be a great leader.
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