The Seduction

Most would be spiritual leaders start out with a desire to serve.  Nothing is more important than serving God and serving the needs of humanity.  In  a short time the seduction begins.  The servant begins to think about being served.  Of course, it is not like going from A to B, but more like a journey which has so many twists and turns that the loss of the original vision is hardly noticed.  Perhaps, the genesis of the change is a growing and a wider sphere of influence in which the spiritual leader becomes aware of the power of power.    

Power is a seductive mistress.  As it is first embraced it is what enables the servant to have a wider base of service.  Others begin to depend on the leadership being offered.  The growing sense of power begins to send out subtle signs that the servant is always right and is indispensable to the life of the growing community.  By this time the spiritual leader still talks about serving God and others, but the real one being served is self, or ego.    

It is unfortunate that spiritual leaders, as well as all the rest of us, do not have someone who will be brutally honest with us about how we have lost the original vision of serving.  Actually, we do have someone, but the loss of the outward vision is symptomatic of the loss of the Holy Spirit as the primary influence in our life.   Instead of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) being evident in our life, others begin to see the works of the flesh (Galatians 5:19-20).  Unfortunately, we are usually the last one to see.