Isaiah 11:1
“And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:”
There are many great leaders after whom you could pattern your leadership, but there is no greater leader to copy than Christ. Many great leaders have many good qualities, but no leader other than Christ can say that they have no bad qualities. When you look at the qualities of Christ’s leadership, you will see that the result is peace. Verse 6 shows us the result of His leadership when it says, “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.” This is the type of leader whom you should follow. I find in this chapter four qualities of Christly leadership that every leader should have.
The first quality of Christly leadership is having the right spirit. Verse 2 says, “And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD;” Yes, every leader should be empowered by the Holy Spirit, but their own spirit needs to be right. Leaders who have the right spirit are leaders who are easy to follow. There is nothing worse than a leader with an unpredictable or a bad spirit. A leader must have the right spirit if they want to their followers to follow.
The second quality of Christly leadership is having the right response. Verse 3 shows us that Christ was not a reactionary leader, but a measured leader. Reactionary leaders are leaders who followers will not go to when something goes wrong. If people fear to come to you when something goes wrong because you are going to blow up, you need to change how you respond. Christly leadership has measured responses based on facts and not on emotion. Don’t let your reactions as a leader be emotional reactions, but let them be measured reactions.
The third quality of Christly leadership is living the right life. It says about Christ in verse 5, “And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins…” Every leader needs to lead by an example of righteousness. “Righteousness exalteth a nation…” (Proverbs 14:34) When a leader lives a righteous life, it shows the follower that double standards will not be allowed. It gives the follower an example that leads to blessings.
The fourth quality of Christly leadership is loyalty. Verse 5 continues by saying, “…and faithfulness the girdle of his reins.” This loyalty was to truth, and not to personality or institutions. A leader should show their follower that loyalty belongs to truth. Leaders should also be loyal to their followers. When a leader follows the Christly quality of loyalty, the follower will know that their leader will do everything in their power to protect them if they will do right.
Whatever level of leadership you may have, be sure that these four Christly qualities are followed. These qualities will bring a peaceful atmosphere and will give the follower a steady example to follow.