Why do we let people lead us?

I was just reading through my one year Bible in the Message translation and I came across this verse “Love and truth form a good leader; sound leadership is founded on loving integrity.” Proverbs 20:28   I realized that anyone I have allowed to lead me is because I believed they had the qualities mentioned in this verse: Love and Truth, or loving integrity.  From my Grandparents and Parents to my Pastor, I have allowed them to lead me because I believed they had loving integrity.  It almost seems too simple, but this is what we look for in a leader: Love and Truth.  John 1:14 tells us “So the Word became human and made his home among us.  He was full of Grace and Truth.”  That is what drew people to Jesus: Love and Truth or loving integrity.  So often I am tempted to think that leadership is more complicated than that. I think that it is about clever ideas, creativity, relevance, and out-of-the-box thinking.  No, Jesus changed the world because he embodied Truth and Love.  And it is a delicate balance of the two.  We can easily ere on the side of truth: as stated in 1 Corinthians 14 “There are a lot of people around who can’t wait to tell you what you’ve done wrong, but there aren’t many fathers willing to take the time and effort to help you grow up.” (the Message)  Just telling someone the truth isn’t enough.  We can preach at someone till we our blue in the face, but without love our words will not be heard.  Also, love without truth is insufficient as well.  When we feel like someone loves us we may follow them, but without truth they aren’t taking us anywhere.  The take away for me is simply this: Without Christ we are incapable of leading anyone in a good direction.  Because he is the source of both Truth and Love: without which you and I don’t have the capacity to truly lead anyone.