Going Low to Lead High
by Royce
“After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” — John 13:5
In villages across Asia, you will witness something that has become foreign to most of the Western world. People of all ages can lower themselves into a deep squat, heels firmly planted on the ground, and remain in this position for hours without discomfort. They cook meals in this posture, have conversations with neighbors, and rest between work. This position, known as the Asian squat, represents one of humanity’s most fundamental resting postures.
The Asian squat requires your entire body to work in harmony. Your ankles must have sufficient flexibility to allow your heels to stay down while your knees bend deeply. Your hips need the mobility to fold completely while maintaining balance. Your core muscles must engage to keep your spine upright, and your legs must possess the endurance to hold this position without fatigue. Most remarkably, when done correctly, this position feels restful rather than strenuous.
However, decades of chair-sitting, elevated shoes, and avoiding low positions have robbed most Western adults of this basic human capacity. We have literally lost the ability to rest at our lowest point. Our bodies have adapted to always being elevated, always seeking the higher position, always avoiding the deep places where true strength is built.
This physical reality reveals a profound spiritual truth about leadership that the modern world has forgotten. We are constantly told to reach higher, climb faster, and stand taller. Leadership development focuses on elevation strategies, influence expansion, and platform building. Yet no one teaches the most foundational principle of sustainable leadership: before you can safely stand tall, you must master the art of resting comfortably at the lowest point.
On the night before His crucifixion, Jesus possessed complete understanding of His divine authority. The Scripture tells us He knew “that the Father had put all things under his power.” In this moment of ultimate clarity about His exalted position, Jesus chose to do something that shocked His disciples to their core.
He got down on His hands and knees.
Picture the scene carefully. The Son of God, fully aware of His cosmic authority, lowered Himself to the floor and assumed the position of the lowest household servant. He moved methodically from disciple to disciple, washing their dusty, calloused feet with His own hands. This was not a hurried gesture or symbolic act. He took time at each man’s feet, demonstrating that He could rest comfortably in this humble posture while performing the most menial task imaginable.
His disciples were astonished because they had never witnessed leadership like this. They expected their Messiah to remain elevated above them, not to kneel beneath them. Peter’s protest, “You shall never wash my feet,” reveals how foreign this approach was to their understanding of authority and power. Yet Jesus responded with words that cut to the heart of authentic leadership: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
Jesus understood what His followers had yet to learn. True leadership strength is not measured by how high you can stand, but by how low you can go while maintaining your dignity, purpose, and inner stability. Like the Asian squat, servant leadership exposes every weakness in your character. Can you find rest in anonymity while others receive recognition? Can you maintain your strength while lowering yourself to meet people exactly where they are? Can you perform humble tasks without losing your sense of identity and calling?
Nelson Mandela’s life provides perhaps the most compelling modern example of this principle in action. For twenty-seven years, he was forced into the ultimate low position, confined in a prison cell on Robben Island that measured just 2 metres by 2 metres. Consider the profound constraint this represented: Mandela stood 1.85 metres tall, yet his living space was only 2 metres in each direction.
Night after night, year after year, this future president of South Africa could not stretch out fully when he slept. He had to curl his body, bend his knees, and find ways to rest in an impossibly cramped space. For more than two decades, he was forced to master the art of finding comfort in the most uncomfortable position imaginable.
Most people would have emerged from such confinement broken, bitter, and consumed with rage toward their oppressors. The natural human response to such treatment would be to seek revenge and assert dominance once freedom was achieved. But Mandela chose a different path entirely. He used those confined years to develop the very qualities that would make him an extraordinary leader.
During his imprisonment, Mandela made the remarkable decision to study Afrikaans, the language of his captors. He read their literature, sought to understand their history, and prepared his heart for the work of reconciliation rather than retribution. As he reflected on this period: “Prison is itself a tremendous education in the need for patience and perseverance. It is, above all, a test of one’s commitment.”
Mandela understood that his cell had become his classroom, and his confinement had become his curriculum for leadership. He was learning to rest at the lowest point not as a victim, but as a student preparing for the highest calling.
When he finally stood tall as South Africa’s president, his ability to lead came not in spite of those twenty-seven years in a tiny cell, but because of them. His willingness to find peace, strength, and purpose in the lowest possible position became the unshakeable foundation for extraordinary moral authority. The man who learned to rest comfortably in a 2 x 2 metre cell gained the strength to lead a nation of fifty million people toward reconciliation rather than civil war.
The deeper Jesus descended from glory to incarnation, from teacher to servant, from life to death, the higher God ultimately exalted Him. The cross became His throne precisely because He first chose the manger. The name above every name was given to the One who willingly took the position below every position. This reveals the fundamental principle that governs all authentic leadership: your capacity to go low determines your ability to lead others high.
Like Mandela in his cramped cell, the constraints and limitations that seem to restrict you may actually be preparing you for your greatest leadership moments. The low places that feel confining might be developing the spiritual flexibility, emotional strength, and character depth you will need when God calls you to stand tall and lead others through difficult circumstances.
Your leadership foundation is not built in moments of public recognition or professional success. It is forged in the hidden places where you choose to serve without applause, where you practice humility without an audience, and where you learn to find rest and purpose even in the most challenging circumstances. These experiences teach you that your identity and worth are not dependent on your position or platform, but on your character and your relationship with God.
Just as the Asian squat reveals whether your body has the mobility, strength, and endurance to function at the most basic human level, servant leadership exposes whether your character has the flexibility, resilience, and depth necessary for sustainable influence. You cannot fake either position. Your body and your character will either support you in the low places, or they will not.
This week, God is inviting you to identify your own leadership laboratory. Find one specific way you can literally or figuratively “get low” in your current context. Perhaps it means taking on a task that others consider beneath your position. Maybe it involves serving someone who cannot advance your career or enhance your reputation. It might mean choosing to remain silent when you could speak up to gain credit or recognition.
Like Jesus with His basin and towel, wrap yourself in the posture of service and remain there long enough for it to feel natural rather than forced. Do not rush through this exercise or perform it for others to notice. Instead, allow this experience to expose what needs strengthening in your leadership foundation. Pay attention to your internal resistance, your desire for recognition, or your discomfort with being in a position where you are not in control.
Find your own 2 x 2 metre space where you can practice resting in humility. This might be a literal physical constraint you are facing, a professional limitation that feels restrictive, or a season of life where your influence feels diminished. Instead of fighting to escape these boundaries, ask God how He might be using them to develop the character qualities you will need for future leadership opportunities.
Remember that those who cannot comfortably rest at the lowest point will never safely sustain the highest positions. The leaders who try to build their influence without first building their character foundation will eventually find that their platform cannot support the weight of real responsibility. But those who master the Asian squat of servant leadership, who can go low and stay low like Mandela in his cell, these are the leaders God elevates to transform the world around them.
Reflection Questions
Take time to honestly examine your leadership foundation with these three questions:
What current limitation, constraint, or humble circumstance is God using to develop your character? How are you choosing to respond to this confined space in your life or leadership? Are you fighting against it, or are you asking God to use it as your leadership laboratory?
When was the last time you physically or metaphorically “got on your knees” to serve someone under your leadership? What does your comfort level with taking the lowest position reveal about the strength of your leadership foundation? Do you find rest in serving others, or does it feel like a burden you endure?
If Jesus were to wash your feet today, what would you need Him to cleanse from your approach to leadership? What pride, ambition, or desire for recognition would you need to surrender at the basin? What aspects of your leadership are built on seeking elevation rather than practicing humility?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, forgive me for the times I have sought to stand tall without first learning to rest low. Like Jesus at the basin and Mandela in his cell, teach me to find strength in humility and peace in the most confining circumstances. Show me my own “2 x 2 metre space” where You want to develop my character, and give me the grace to rest there with dignity and purpose.
Lord Jesus, as You took the towel and basin, wrap my heart with the same servant spirit. Help me see that every low place in my life is preparation for the high calling You have for me. May I never rush past the foundation-building seasons, but instead learn to squat deeply in humility so that one day I might stand tall in Your strength. Use my willingness to go low as a pathway to lift others high, and let my leadership be marked not by how far I can climb, but by how deeply I can serve. Amen.