Amongst the great minds of western civilization, St. Thomas Aquinas holds a very special place.  As a Catholic priest he united the depths of our faith with the real practical situations that people face every day.  He does this in an amazing way when it comes to making decisions.  And for all of us in the working world, we know how important this skill set is.  In this first of a series, I try to open the wisdom of St. Thomas Aquinas to help us learn an essential skill for our leadership. How to ask for advice?  

We all know that leadership is about vision and passion but sometimes we forget that if no one is following us we’re not leading anyone.  In truth the test of a good leader includes their ability to engender their spirit in their followers.  And few people were better at this than St. Paul.  In many of his writings, especially his letters to Titus and Timothy, we have a valuable lesson of how a Christian passes their inner fire to their followers.  A lesson our Christian leaders can use today.

By all accounts St. Paul checks all the boxes when it comes to being an effective leader.  But of all of his many wonderful qualities, the strength that dominates his personality without a doubt is his perseverance in the face of adversity.  St. Paul is someone who finishes what he starts.  But many of us struggle to do the same.  Burn out is a real thing and persevering in the face of adversity sometimes just isn’t worth it.  What’s the secret to Paul’s outstanding sense of grit and how can we imitate him today?

If anyone were to survey the general American public, two things would stand out.  First we would all be convinced that things need to be done, actions need to take place, decisions need to be enacted.  And secondly, most of us would agree that it is really hard to do what we know we need to do.  Even if we know what needs to be done it can be a very difficult task to start what we know we need to do.  It was no different for St. Paul.  Yet he gives us the secret of allowing Christ to help us start  doing what we know needs to be done.

Sometimes we imagine saints to be people who have life all figured out.  They seem to know and execute on God’s plan perfectly and therefore it can be hard for us to try and imitate them.  The life of St. Paul, however, shows us something very different.  Many times he did not know what to do and yet he still made decisions.  How did a saint as great as St. Paul make decisions about God’s will?  How did St. Paul know what to do?  By looking at the scriptures we can learn value lessons to help us in our leadership as well.

Have you ever felt like you were in a box?   Like no matter what you chose in life there were already predetermined outcomes and there’s nothing you could do that could change it?  Few things will kill the heart and ability of a leader more quickly than fatalism.  An attitude that says it’s not even worth trying because you won’t make any difference. Funny thing is, we’re not the first people to face fatalism.  We’re not the first people to face the boxes that life presents to us.  True leaders find a way to become creative anyway and Christian leaders become creative with Christ.  Let’s look at St. Paul as an example.

Anyone who takes the time to study the life of St. Paul can’t help but admire than man’s endurance, energy, and determination in the service of Jesus Christ.  Indeed his life seems so spectacular and his exploits so amazing that many people feel they can never imitate him.  But a closer reading of his writings reveals his secret:  God’s strength was revealed in his weakness.  How did St. Paul leverage his weakness to allow Christ to reveal His strength and what does that mean for us as we try to follow Christ as leaders today. 

Many Christians today feel intimidated.  The culture around us is shifting and ideas and notions foreign to the Bible are gaining a cultural foothold.  Many today feel a sense of loss or hopelessness in front of the situations.  But is today’s situation for a Christian that much different than the one that was confronted by the Apostles?  Was the world of St. Paul that much different from today’s world?  Where did St. Paul gain his strength?  What allowed him to lead?  In this new series we explore his soul and the source of his leadership in Christ.

Most people today have an appreciation for leadership, but many people still have the question as to what the difference is between a wordly leader and a Christian leader.  Of course there is no better place to find an answer to this question than by asking Jesus Himself.  In his parables Jesus reveals many keen insights into how He view leadership.  In this third of our three part series we’ll finish our exploration of the parables and the insights they give as to what is a genuinely spiritual leadership.   

The life of Christians is governed by the truth contained in scripture.  And this is especially true for leadership which is why it is so important for us to study the parables of Jesus.  In the parables we hear that leadership comes from God and also receive valuable lessons about what to avoid in order to not allow our leadership to become too worldly and what to do in order to make our leadership as spiritual as possible.  The parables of Jesus are as timely today as they were when he first spoke them.