Get Real November 16 Devotional
November 16, 2024
PHILIPPIANS 2:5-8 |5 Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, assuming human likeness. And being found in appearance as a human, 8 he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.
Political leadership has gotten even harder in our technocratic age. Political and economic leadership is not a science! But this is forgotten by citizens and leaders alike, and just as we expect medical experts and computer wizzes to “know the answers,” so we expect politicians to as well.
But politicians should be viewed, and see themselves, less as experts and more as experimenters. Experts fear being wrong as it ruins their reputation. The worst thing for an academic is unfavorable peer reviews. But in complex human affairs we often don’t know the answers and need to proportion our claims and promises to the level of our actual understanding.
This lesson was clear in the pandemic when both officials and experts, needing to be experts, made claims that were really just raw guesses. Humility needs to be central to political leadership and be accompanied by a willingness to admit mistakes.
Read our passage and try to memorize it.
Are you a humble leader?
