Beyond Slavery

Tolu sighed deeply as he shared his frustrations about his boss. “He complains about everything”, he began, his voice heavy with exhaustion. ” Nothing anyone does is ever good enough, and the way he speaks to us, so harsh and demeaning, it is unbearable sometimes.” He explained that the only people he values were those who play by his books. Tolu shook his head, recalling some of his unreasonable demands. “Can you imagine? During work hours, he’ll send us to his house to clean, and some times even call us on weekends. errands that have nothing to do with the job at all. And if you don’t agree, his reaction……..” he paused, his face tightening, “let’s just say it is not something you’d want to experience.” He continued that he threatens to deduct their salary as his company was the only one in their area paying a sustainable salary. I felt so sorry for him.

One of the numerous values to emulate from Jesus is his style of leadership. Some leaders would want a slave, a child, a robot or even a moron as a follower. The leader in turn would call them ‘His devoted follower’. A slave, would do anything his master(leader)says, a slave would never have an intimacy with his master, a slave would not be respected even amongst his fellow slaves.

There’s a Yoruba adage that says, ‘ ti a ba ka eru, inu eru a baje ‘, which means ‘if we count the slave, the slave will be angry’. One thing Jesus never did in his life time was to call us slaves, he clearly stated that we are sons(children), heirs of the kingdom.

Romans 8:17 KJV
and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

If we also think deeply , God showed his pattern of leadership when he made Adam the head of his whole creation.  God gave him dominion, authority and responsibility over all of his creation on earth. Being a leader, God gave him the freedom to name the animals and plants. He entrusted Adam with rulership over the garden of Eden. If this is not leadership ,then what is? In creating Adam in his image, God passed the baton of leadership rooted in dominion and responsibility. An image representing leadersip.

The image of God is authority and dominion which handed over to Adam. God had the authority over every creature which he also handed over to Adam. If you are a leader in what so ever position and your followers are treated as slaves you need to have a rethink of your position because that isn’t “leadership”. As much as there are different styles of leadership being observed and stated, I believe one we should all emulate is the style of God’s leadership which his son Jesus came to portray.

Most leaders would want their term or tenure to be a great one no doubt. It is only a bad leader that will subdue those under him not to be greater than him. If Jesus could tell us we would do greater things than he did, then that is a true leader. A true leader would want his followers to learn of him and be like him which happened when Jesus was walking on the water and Peter told him to tell him to come. Peter was a follower who knew the capacity of his leader Jesus, Jesus actually told him to come and he walked on water. (Check Matthew 14:22- 33).

If at any point you find yourself as a leader, don’t be like Tolu’s boss who brings everyone down just to be at the top.

God has set examples for us, and his son reinforced them. These are the models we must emulate if we desire to be successful leader.

The greatest leaders are not those who keep their followers beneath them, but those who raise them up to their full potential in Christ.

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