Cowardice in leadership fails to engage people …

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When I look at the lives of great leaders I’ve known or observed, courage is a common characteristic among them.

Instead of trying to contrast an almost wholesale lack of courage among both secular and church leaders today with the courage of these leaders, I thought I would instead share with you a great insight into what courage really is, as masterfully described by G.K. Chesterton:

    Courage is almost a contradiction in terms. It means a strong desire to live taking the form of a readiness to die. ‘He that will lose his life, the same shall save it,’ is not a piece of mysticism for saints and heroes. It is a piece of everyday advice for sailors or mountaineers. It might be printed in an Alpine guide or a drill book. The paradox is the whole principle of courage; even of quite earthly or quite brutal courage.

    A man cut off by the sea may save his life if he will risk it on the precipice. He can only get away from death by continually stepping within an inch of it. A soldier surrounded by enemies, if he is to cut his way out, needs to combine a strong desire for living with a strange CARELESSNESS about dying. He must not merely cling to life, for then he will be a coward, and will not escape. He must not merely wait for death, for then he will be a suicide, and will not escape. He must seek his life in a spirit of furious indifference to it; he must desire life like water and yet drink death like wine.

When you consider many modern church leaders literally ignore phone calls, texts, and emails because they don’t have the “courage” to say “no” when necessary — or even when it’s not — you can contrast such cowardly behavior with Chesterton’s vibrant description of courage.

The Apostle Paul makes sure to challenge us to be courageous people of faith:

“Be on guard. Stand firm in the faith. Be courageous. Be strong. And do everything with love,” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14.

Cowardly leaders fail to engage people. Courageous leaders confidently wade into conversation with people of all sorts.

Are you a courageous leader? Or are you cowering behind your smartphone or laptop?

Scotty