Are you able to keep pride in a proper balance with humility?
Leaders are accountable for how they use their power and influence. Read Isaiah 14:3-23.
Chapters 13 and 14 of Isaiah deal primarily with God’s judgment of the nation of ancient Babylon. Babylon had a relatively short period of military world dominance compared to nations such as Egypt, Assyria, Persia, Rome, etc. In 586 BC Babylon captured Jerusalem for the third time in less than three decades. The fury of this third invasion and mistreatment of the Jewish people was horrific even for the unacceptable standards of the day. Jerusalem was leveled, people massacred, and the vast majority of those left alive were subjected to a death march and taken in disgrace to Babylon where they were held in exile.
The prideful Babylonian leaders assumed they could use their power to do whatever they desired and they would be accountable to no one. Leaders today can still come to that conclusion if they allow pride and arrogance to drive their thinking. Isaiah prophesied concerning the Babylonian leaders when he said, “…How the oppressor has come to an end! How His fury has ended. The Lord has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression” (Isaiah 14:4-6).
Proverbs 16:18tlb says, “Pride goes before destruction and haughtiness before the fall.” Today’s leaders still live in a world where position and power are highly valued and sought after. It is never easy to be humble but when leaders are awarded power and influence humility becomes very allusive.
When a leader has significant control over their own situation it is easy for even a Christian leader to believe their own press clippings. It can appear that they put themselves in a position of power and it is easy to forget the true source of power and authority. But, according to Colossians 2:10, Christian leaders have been “…given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.” As a leader seeks to keep pride in proper balance, it is important that Christian leaders remember the source of their power and influence and that they agree to be held accountable for how they use the power and influence they have been given.
