I Peter 5:6 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time He may exalt you.”    

We have all heard the statement many times: “He is a self-made man.”  The truth is that none of us are self-made.  We must all have help from others and from God first to become the man and leader that He wants us to be.  It begins with our acceptance of Jesus as the one we follow.  This should make us realize that we need to be humble under Him, God’s Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  Our salvation does not come from anything that we do or can do, but because of God’s grace through Christ.  This should drive our humility and make us accept the fact that we are not self-made.  We are God-made and Jesus-saved.  A God-made leader is not boastful or prideful, but eternally grateful and full of humility. 

I have had a career in higher education and leadership positions that put me in the position to work with many intellectuals, politicians at the highest levels, business executives and community leaders.  I could always tell the leaders who were Christians by their humility and evidence of being God-made.  I could always tell the leaders who felt they were self-made by their ego and pride, as well as often a “me-first” attitude.  Ego is the anesthetic that dulls the pain of self-absorption.  God’s Word has much to say about pride beginning with Adam and Eve in the garden.  When we look at the word “Pride,” we notice that the middle letter is a big “I.”  The Bible tells us and gives many accounts of the fact that pride goes before the fall.  If we are to be the leader God intends for us to be, we must be God-made in every way.  We must remember that the road to success is always under construction.  If we let God make us, He will exalt us at the proper time.  Until God calls us home, we should continue to be God-made in the image and character of Christ.  There is no retirement age in the Christian life until we get to heaven.