The true test of a leader is faith

We meet and read about heroes every day -- nurses who refuse to give up on their patients, soldiers who stand in the gap sacrificing everything for the liberty and justice of men and women they will never meet, the friend who rises to a defense that no one else would. The second book of Samuel introduces us to men who lived as heroes.

Josheb-basshebeth was a captain of the king's army who demonstrated the qualities of a hero. He was a leader. Leadership is the ability to influence others in a movement toward a cause. Leadership is not as much telling others what they need to do as it is getting in the trenches with them and showing them what is expected.

Leadership and risk assessment go hand in hand. Risk assessment gauges how much real and perceived threat is proposed. Our hero from 2 Samuel engaged in a battle between himself and 800 men. In the modern-day battlefield of the business meeting this risk assessment would have returned the proposed project back to the shelf, never to be looked at again.

Spiritual leadership, however, reads the risk assessment through the lens of faith. Yes, the conditions tell me to turn around and go back home, but what does faith say? Yes, the conditions and the market reports say I will fail, but what does the lens of faith say? Yes, I hear you say nothing can be done, but what does faith say?

Faith is not naive, hopeful, positive thinking. Faith is where life meets hard-core reality, and instead of succumbing to the crushing rocks of reality, it chooses the promises and strength of God. Faith is strength of the leader who dreams the impossible and stands in the gap of the improbable.

This hero/leader was strong -- not by his ability alone, but by the faith that empowered his ability. Faith that says God is mightier than any challenge I face, I must help those around me see it.

@body_no_indent italics:Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father, minister and writer. Read more from him at www.robhurtgen.wordpress.com.