Leadership or Ownership

Back in the 90’s I was a GM of a corporate run restaurant and our district manager was into all the management books that came out. He would give us a copy and at our next managers meeting, he would ask us to review them. You know the short books, the One Minute Manager… Who Moved My Cheese. The book he gave us was James Belasco’s “The Flight of the Buffalo.” The premise was the reason the buffalo nearly went extinct because they had a single leader and if the Indians could get that one buffalo, the others would be easy pickings. Geese, on the other hand, took turns leading and encourage each other with honking and that is why they were successful. I read the book and said hogwash. The reason the buffalo nearly went extinct was because no one owned them. They just wandered around. You could pick them off from a train and no one would say anything. Now cows, someone owns them. You cannot just go around shooting cows. Some farmer will come looking for you. He purchased his cows, sometimes at great expense. They belong to him and he watches over them. They are his. We belonged to the world wandering aimlessly, but Christ purchased us at a great price. We have been purchased with his own blood he shed on a wooden cross. When we accepted his Grace, we became his. This is good, because this world is perishing, and God is eternal. In John 10:28 Jesus states, I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. We do not serve a fallen leader, but a risen savior who we belong to and are cherished by. This world is passing away, but we shall never pass away. We have been promised eternity with the risen Christ. We take time to think about this and give thanks when we gather for communion.