Lift the one you could rival
Jonathan and David
Jonathan was the crown prince, the natural heir to Saul's throne. David was the rising star God had chosen to take that throne instead. By every worldly calculation, they should have been rivals — and Jonathan should have seen David as the threat to be eliminated.
Instead, Jonathan loved David, made a covenant with him, gave him his own robe and sword, and said the most self-emptying thing an heir could say: you will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you. He used his position not to protect his own future but to lift up the one who would take his place. That is humility's rarest and highest form.
“You will be king over Israel, and I will be next to you.”
— Jonathan, to David — 1 Samuel 23:17 (WEB)
Serve and lift the very people you could treat as rivals. Like Jonathan with David, use your position to advance another rather than yourself.
“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
Jonathan laid down his own claim to lift the one God had chosen to replace him. A leader formed here can celebrate and advance a potential rival rather than guard his own position. He treats others' rise as something to serve, not fear. The inner work is loving and lifting those you could rival.
Use your position to advance others, even those who might surpass or replace you. Refuse to see capable people as threats to be contained. Celebrate and equip your potential rivals as Jonathan equipped David. Lay down your own claim where lifting another serves God's purposes.
Leaders quietly treat capable up-and-comers as rivals to be managed or contained, guarding their own position. The blind spot is fearing the people God may be raising to take your place.
Identify someone you have quietly treated as a rival. This week, take one concrete step to lift them — advance, equip, or celebrate them — even at some cost to your own position.
The hardest humility is not serving those beneath you, but lifting up the very person who could take your place — celebrating, protecting, and advancing a potential rival. Jonathan did exactly that, laying down his own claim to lift David's.
Is there someone you have quietly treated as a rival, whom God may be asking you to lift up — even at the cost of your own position?