Dare Great Things For Christ

We all know how important determination and effort is to succeed at what we do.  After all a large portion of success is determined by our effort to get there.  What can be overlooked in this process, however, is the nimbleness and agility of mind necessary in order to make the adaptations or even change course as needed on our pathway to success.  This flexibility is something that we can cultivate and grow and it is at the very root of the art of power. 

The second book of Pope St. Gregory The Great’s “Rule For Shepherds” comes to a close by tackling one of the thorniest problems in the heart of a leader.  Whom do we serve?  On the one hand if we serve only God we run the risk of losing the people that we are called to lead.  However, if we serve the people that we are called to lead we can sometimes run amuck of our relationship with God.  The proper balance can only be found in what I call the love of a servant.

Christian leaders have to face a constant dilemma.  Belonging to Jesus Christ and at His Service their hearts are focused on heaven, and yet having to care for the things of this world their time and their mental capacity are dominated by the things that pass.  How do we keep our souls alive and fresh in God when are time is spent with the anxieties and cares of life?  This constant problem for Christian leaders could be summed up by the expression “We need to live in the world, but not of the world.”

Christians who lead faith’s many paradoxes – we are supposed to be humble and yet we have authority.  We are supposed to be docile and yet we assert ourselves.  We are supposed to be virtuous and yet we place ourselves in positions that are often tempting.  Is it any wonder that so many people think Christians aren’t supposed to lead or so many Christians refuse to lead.  Pope St. Gregory the Great gives us a keen answer in chapter 6 of his second book, “On The Rule Of Shepherds.” 

When you’re in charge you don’t have a cookie cutter method for guaranteeing you are doing what is right.  You have to make decisions that are difficult and uncertain and you have to make them every day.  Pope St. Gregory the Great understood this because he had to do the same thing every day.  And in his book, “The Rule For Shepherds” he gives us insight on how to bridge the paradoxes and find a way to leading our people with a unified vision despite the variety of decisions that fill our day. 

Pope St. Gregory The Great has an enigmatic phrase at the beginning of Chapter 3 of his second book of his monumental work, “The Rule Of Shepherds.”  He says, “A leader must be first in all of his actions.”  Simply put this means a leader’s actions must be excellent, magnanimous, kingly.  There’s an indication and an expectation that those who lead live at a higher level of excellence.  But how does this call translate for a Christian today?

Let’s face it , leadership is hard!  As soon as we start to lead we encounter a whole host of sacrifices and challenges that we never had to face before.  And yet for everything daunting about it, leadership also presents a unique blessing for us.  By persevering through the challenges and continuing to do the mission Christ has given us, we grow in holiness and in charity.  This is the positive message that Pope Gregory The Great puts forth in his second book of his Rule For Shepherds, and his wisdom from more than a thousand years ago continues today.

Christian leaders have to do something difficult – we have to constantly balance asserting ourselves and using our talents and being humble before God.  Errors can happen in both ways either by not asserting ourselves or by losing sight of the service we render to Jesus.  St. Paul was not unaware of this challenge.  In First Timothy 5 and 6 he shows St. Timothy how to make this proper balance and exhorts him to lead while being friend to Christ.

For anyone who has tried it is obvious that leadership is not easy.  Besides skill and opportunity, a leader needs a tremendous amount of steadfastness and just plain grit.  In St. Paul’s First Letter to St. Timothy, we see St. Paul encouraging St. Timothy with the full realization that what he has commanded Timothy to do will be hard.  May the Word of God inspire us to persevere as well.

Does God expect us to lead out of our strengths or out of our weaknesses?  It seems like both are good options.  In the First Letter of St. Paul to St. Timothy chapter 3 we read St. Timothy give us a list of the qualifications that God wants to see from his bishops and his deacons.  Qualifications which could be applied to any of our positions of leadership.  Is this an indication that God wants us to be qualified for leadership?  If so, how do we get that qualification?