Need For Selfless Leaders

Selflessness is an unquantifiable virtue. It is the act of putting others first without an ulterior motive, strings, cost or importunate demands on the beneficiary. Selflessness, synonymous with mercy is a virtue not common in practice in a society where virtually everyone wants to grab and assert relevance even to the detriment of others in the society. This is why the saying, “nothing goes for nothing” has been coined into the lexicon of our polity and social relationship. One imagines how some wealthy people think they can still live happily, peacefully and stress-free seeing their neighbours live in the gory pains of abject poverty. Certainly, it is only a state of sadism that can dispose to such callous state. Selflessness demands nothing in return for good deeds. It does not accept worship and unnecessary “godfather” maniac, neither does it insist that beneficiaries of favours should be under the dictatorial control or slave to the obnoxious whims and caprice of their benefactors.
Imagine how the world would look like if everyone who had at one time or the other offered help to someone, plays a god and wants to be worshipped. As pencil in the hand of God, the Bible teaches that when used of God to favour a person, we should say, we are “unprofitable servant”. To be in a position to help others, is exclusively a function of Grace, because in God “we live and have our being”. So when a person thinks he or she is self-made they are not only living in delusions but tottering on the brink of self destruct, like Nebuchadnezzar. Bible writes of the ancient king, whom God called “king of kings”, “The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my majesty? While the word was in the king’s mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, “O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. And they shall drive from men, and thy dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times shall pass over thee, until thou know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will”.
The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, and his nails like birds’ claws”. (Daniel 4: 30-33).Imagine how inferior and subservient everyone who has received help or favour from someone else would have looked like if those who gave help had insisted on controlling their beneficiaries. Those who are well-to-do in society should realise that they are also beneficiaries of God’s unmerited favour and should humbly give support to the needy. Paul told the church at Rome, “…he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity…..he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness (Rom. 12:8). To Timothy, he instructed, “Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy” (1 Timothy 6:17). Therefore, the concept and practice of godfatherism is alien to selfless works.
If God used one to raise another instead of playing a god, he or she should be grateful to God that by him, God has raised or blessed someone. Real joy is not living for self but for others. History is replete with men and women who immortalised their names through selfless works. John D. Rockefeller is one whose selfless services to humanity are still speaking for him years after his death. The Rockefeller Foundation was established in 1913 by Standard Oil Magnate, John D. Rockefeller to “promote the well being of mankind throughout the world”. His efforts were part of a new American movement of Scientific Philanthropy, launched by Scottish-born steel mogul, Andrew Carnegie in his 1889 essay, “The Gospel of wealth. “We need selfless men and women like Rockefeller in our politics. The spirit of godfatherism is selfish and unnecessary considering the emptiness of life and the uncertainty of wealth.

By: Igbiki Benibo