Dearth of Leadership

In recent years I have spent a lot of time trying to understand what makes a good leader.  I have read book after book and talked to many men that are leaders both good and bad.  As a pastor and a man that has been called to lead or at least shepherd a flock I find that understanding what a leader is could be one of the most important things that I do.  Some of the leadership gurus seem to have some really good ideas but I have found that none of them really can nail down a solid definition of what a leader is.

I would love for there to be a check list that we could just tick off that would tell us what a great leader is:

Integrity	Check
Good Administrator	Check
Good Communicator	Check
Full Head of Hair	Check

I think you get the idea.  There are a number of characteristics that are necessary for a good leader but trying to nail down and exact definition is like trying to nail water to a tree.  One of the reasons for this is that leadership is an art and like all forms of art beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  That is why we like some leaders and others turn our stomachs. 

For me I feel that God is asking me to take a look at the larger picture.  More and more we are seeing self-styled leaders emerge that are more interested in gaining approval then actually leading.  I see that over the years as America’s greatest generation is fading into history and then that history being revised into something that is more politically palatable.  Gone are the men and women that could look evil in the eye and not blink. 

For a long time I wondered about this.  I have come to the conclusion that the reason that we do not have leaders like this anymore is that we do not have the will or the understanding to name evil for what it is.  We see more and more that the men and women that want to lead feel like they cannot rightly divide what is real evil and what is truly good. 

There is right and there is wrong, there life and there is death; we know this that God has said in Jerimiah 31:31-34 this:

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Those of us that have tasted of the pure water of life, that have felt a love that transcends all understanding, that has been given a true beauty for the ashes that we once were know what is right.  God has placed in us that knowledge. 

We can all agree that the world is in a sad way, but while we all may have different opinions as to how to fix them all of us can agree that we need a leader to emerge.  Someone like the great preachers of old, that spoke the truth without reservation and could stand up to evil and not only not blink make evil back down!  Greater is He that is in us then he that is in this world!  Ultimately we need to rely on the truth of God’s word:  “It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men and knowledge to men of understanding.”  God will send the right leaders when we need them, God will send an awakening when He chooses and He will keep His people safe as best brings Him glory!  Let us pray for God to raise those leaders up!