Does Your Leadership Matter?

Some of the greatest principles for leadership are found by looking at leaders in the ancient past.

I was reading about the kings of Israel and Judah recently and came across a king that is fairly obscure in the record of kings. In fact, you may have never even heard of him.

I'm talking about King Jehoram.

King Jehoram was king in Judah for eight years in Jerusalem. His reign was marked by evil. What king of evil? Well, when he first became king, his first order of business was to kill off all of his siblings so that there was no rival to the throne. This is pretty evil if you ask me!

The author of the book of 2 Chronicles tells us in chapter 21 that because of King Jehoram's evil leadership, God struck him with a sickness that ultimately led to his death.

What is interesting to me is what the author says about the death of Jehoram:

"And he departed with no ones regret. They buried him in the city of David, but not in the tombs of the kings" (2 Chronicles 21:20).

In the end, his leadership mattered so little to those in the kingdom that they were not only glad that he was gone, but they did not even see him fit to be buried with the kings.

I suppose the question that leaders should ask themselves after reading about Jehoram is whether their leadership is making a difference in the lives of those who follow them. Or another way to ask it would be: "Does my leadership matter?"

Many leaders come to the end of their leadership run and look back with regret because they spent so much time building themselves up that they missed out on making their leadership matter to others.

When I get to the end of my leadership run, I hope that I can look back and say that my leadership made an impact and had purpose in the lives of the people who I led.

So what is the lesson of King Jehoram?

Leadership matters!

But it only matters if we are leading in a way that will impact people long after we are gone.

How are you doing in this? Does your leadership matter to those who are following you?