Insecurity in Leadership

“They loved human praise more than the praise of God.” - Jn 12:43 NLT

The Bible says: “Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders. But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue. For they loved human praise more than the praise of God” (vv. 42-43 NLT). How secure are you as a leader? When someone else has a great idea, do you support it or suppress it? Do you celebrate other people’s successes, or feel threatened by them? If your answers are that you suppress and feel threatened, you have a problem with insecurity and you need to deal with it in order to fully succeed in what God has called you to do. Observe: (1) Insecure leaders create insecurity in others. The old saying goes, “You cannot give what you do not have.” Likewise, without security, you cannot make others feel secure. And to be an effective leader, the kind that others want to follow, you need to make those who follow you feel good about themselves. (2) Insecure leaders take more from people than they give. They are on a constant quest for recognition, validation, and love. Because of that, their attention is on finding security and not imparting it to others. They are mostly takers not givers, and takers don’t make good leaders. (3) Insecure leaders continually limit their best people. They hoard power. In fact, the better their followers are, the more threatened the leaders feel—and the harder they work to limit their followers’ success and recognition. If these things describe you, read this: “Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other” (Ro 12:10 NLT).

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