He must increase, but I must decrease. [He must grow more prominent; I must grow less so.] – John 3:30, Amplified Bible (AMP)

Sometimes, you just have to step aside for the good of the team.

There are few things more sad in the sporting world than seeing a once-dominant player stay in the game too long. Slowed by age and/or injury, such players linger until people forget their past triumphs in the wake of their glaring, current failures.

Another sad thing is a leader, in any realm of life, who holds on to a leadership position too long. Leaders in sports, in businesses, in churches, and in volunteer organizations who linger when they should move on create more failure than they do success. Due to an inability to adapt to new circumstances, a growing complacency from having grown comfortable in leadership, or a desire to hold on to power even when the passion necessary to lead has dwindled, many leaders continue to lead even when people are no longer following. Whatever successes they enjoyed in the past are blurred by the obvious disappointments of the present.

Admitting that we are not the people to get the job done is a hard thing to do. It requires true, biblical humility. If pride, rather than humility, is dominant in our lives, then it will be almost impossible to admit that our time for leading is over. But if we realize, like John the Baptist did, that leadership is not about personal power but about enabling others to be the best they can be for Christ, then relinquishing leadership roles, when we ought no longer have them, is easy. Such decisions become easy because, when we are humble, we no longer view them as blows to our egos. Instead, we view them as acts designed to enable God’s purposes to flourish. If we love God and others more than we love ourselves, the last thing we want to do is bottleneck God’s purposes with a dam constructed out of personal pride.

If you are leading an organization that is falling apart, take a hard look at yourself. You may very well be the right person for the job, and you may just need to adapt a little bit to right your ship’s course. On the other hand, self-examination may prove to you what many people may already recognize; the ship isn’t right because the leader isn’t right. If the latter is the case, chuck pride out the window and do what is best for God’s kingdom. God doesn’t say a single, negative thing in the Bible about John the Baptist for stepping aside so Christ could shine. He won’t say a single, negative thing about you, either. People might, but who cares. You aren’t here for other people’s pleasure. You are here for God’s.

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