Exodus 3:10 Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. 1. Leaders we must have. To be a leader one must have courage. Not without reason did Sir Walter Scott say: "It appears to me that what is least forgiven in a man of any mark and likelihood is want of that quality called pluck. All the fine qualities of genius cannot make amends for it." Boldness is demanded by the very nature of the ease. He who never moves till every one else is moving may be an excellent companion or follower; but a leader he is not. He who would lead must go before, must be in advance. 2. But courage must have some basis; and this basis is found largely in convictions. He who would lead must have not opinions alone but convictions. He must have before him some definite result to be reached, and a fixed conception of the manner in which the end is to be gained. And all this must not be a surmise, but an assurance. We cannot lead people with a perhaps. Usually, in proportion to the positiveness of one's convictions will be his courage in obeying them. If one's aims, methods, convictions are elevated and noble, so much the better; but convictions he must have, if he would be a leader, and he must hold them with a tenacity that death alone can unloose. 3. One of the convictions that go to make up leadership is a belief that things ought to be done, that they can be done, that they must be done; or, in other words, faith. There must be faith in a cause, faith in one's self, in one's destiny, in man; or, rather, there must be a faith in what God is able and desirous to do for man and through man. To say "nothing can be done" is to say "God can do nothing." This despair is not only totally unchristian, it is fatal to leadership. "I can't" is powerless, or potent only for evil. "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" conducts to victory. 4. Out of faith comes progressiveness. To have no aspiration beyond holding things just where they are — or, perhaps, pushing them back an inch or two — this is fatal. But there is inspiration in the thought of achieving something that has not been done before, of treading heights unattained hitherto. The brakeman is very well in his way. But he is not the conductor. He cannot start the train. 5. For leadership there mast be sympathy — a knowledge of men, of their feelings, of their desires, hopes, and fears, prejudices, etc. And for leadership there must be unselfishness. Many other qualities are needed that a man may lead wisely, successfully. These seem to me indispensable that he may lead at all. Parallel Verses KJV: Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt. |
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