Monday Devotion: Take The Lower Place

Equipped to Lead Podcast: Welcome to Equipped in Five, five minutes, one scripture, and one challenge to help us start the week ready to lead. Today we're talking about why Jesus calls men to take the lower place. A lot of us want to lead well. We want to be dependable at work, present in our homes, useful in the church, and steady when pressure hits. But pressure can expose a bad definition of leadership. We can start thinking leadership means people listen when we speak. Move when we decide and notice what we carry. Then we walk past the ordinary burden because it feels like somebody else's job. We can lead a meeting all day and still step over the shoes by the door. We can talk about responsibility and wait for someone else to handle the dishes, the difficult phone call, or the man who has quietly stopped showing up. Our scripture today is John thirteen verses one through seventeen. On the night before he went to the cross, Jesus shared the Passover meal with his disciples. During the meal, he did something none of them expected. The one they called teacher and Lord got up from the table, wrapped a tail around himself, and began washing their feet, taking the place of the lowest servant in the room. Peter struggled to understand why Jesus would do such a thing. But when Jesus finished, he told them he was giving them an example. If their Lord was willing to humble himself and serve others, then his followers were to do the same. John wants us to see two things at the same time. One, Jesus has authority and Jesus serves. Those two truths do not compete with each other. His service does not cancel his leadership. His service shows us what his leadership is like. Footwashing was low work. The disciples were willing to sit at the table, but none of them had reached for the towel. Then the one they called teacher and Lord took the place that nobody wanted. The man with the towel is not beneath leadership. He is showing us what leadership is. That cuts against the way we naturally think. We often picture leadership as moving upward, more authority, more control, more recognition. Jesus moves downward. He uses strength to carry responsibility for the good of others. Philippians 2 says Christ took the form of a servant and humbled himself all the way to the cross. Matthew 20 says the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve and to give his life. This is not weakness. Weakness runs from responsibility where Jesus moves towards it. And this is not people pleasing. Jesus did not surrender truth, boundaries, or obedience to the Father. He served in love without being controlled by everyone's expectations. For us, taking the lower place can be painfully ordinary. At home, it may mean seeing the full sink of dishes and handling it before we settle into our lounge chair. It may mean putting the phone down and listening without preparing a defense. It may mean taking full ownership of one household responsibility instead of waiting to be managed. At work, it can mean sharing credit, helping the new guy, or accepting responsibility when the plan was ours. In church, it may mean carrying tables, staying for cleanup, or just sitting with a man who needs a brother more than advice. I think many of us know what it is like to notice a task and quietly hope someone else sees it first. We are not confused about what needs to happen. We just do not want the interruption. That small moment reveals whether we see leadership as a position or a responsibility. With our children, taking the lower place does not mean giving them everything that they want. Love protects, it teaches, and it corrects. It also gets close enough to understand what is happening in their heart. Sometimes strong leadership makes a decision. Sometimes it sets a boundary. And sometimes it just picks up a towel. We need that balance because servant leadership can be twisted. It does not mean enabling sin, ignoring abuse, or staying in danger, or carrying every burden until we collapse. If safety is at risk, Loving leadership includes telling the truth and getting qualified pastoral counseling, legal or emergency help. It also does not mean avoiding a hard conversation because we want everyone to like us. Passivity is not humility. Control is not strength. And Jesus gives us something better than both of those. He gives us authority shaped by love. And we cannot produce that kind of heart by trying to look impressive. We need the Savior who washed feet. And then went to the cross for proud, self-protective men like us. Jesus did not only give us an example, he gave himself for us. He forgives us, changes us, and gives us his spirit so we can stop using leadership to prove our worth. Because we are secure in Christ, we are free to do the unnoticed work. We are also free to receive help. Peter did not want Jesus to wash his feet, and many men do not want anyone close enough to see their need. But brotherhood means we serve one another. A humble leader can ask for prayer, receive correction, and admit when the weight is too much to carry. So here's your Monday challenge. Choose one person God has placed in your care and ask one simple question What burden can I carry before I am asked? Then choose one concrete action this week on the task, make the call, clean the mess, prepare the meal, help a coworker. Or just check on a brother. Do one real act of service without announcing it or keeping score. Ask the Lord to show us where we have confused leadership with control, recognition, or passivity, and to give us the humble strength of Jesus to carry what love requires. Then take the next faithful step. Lead with strength, serve with humility, love like Christ, be strong and lead well.