I just wrote an article for Catalyst Monthly. Should be in next month’s issue. I’m not sure exactly how to say this–don’t have my mind wrapped around it yet. And it probably won’t come across as very academic. But one of the most over-looked and under-appreciated dimensions of great leadership is guts.

Yesterday I preached about Jonathan climbing a cliff while Saul sat under a pomegranate tree on the outskirts of Gibeah. I love Jonathan’s modus operandi in I Samuel 14: Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf. It took guts to climb that cliff. But a little bit of guts saved the nation of Israel.

It took guts for Benaiah to chase a lion. For the normal person, the gut reaction would be to run away. But Benaiah made a gutsy move–he chased the lion. And it changed the course of His life.

Great leaders are gutsy! It takes different shapes in different arenas. But gutsy leaders dare to be different. Gutsy leaders challenge the status quo. Gutsy leaders refuse to play it safe.

And no one was more gutsy than Jesus! He wasn’t afraid of offending Pharisees; touching lepers; washing feet; defending prostitutes; or befriending tax collectors. In the words of Dorothy Sayers:

To do them justice, the people who crucified Jesus did not do so because he was a bore. Quite the contrary; he was too dynamic to be safe. It has been left for later generations to muffle up that shattering personality and surround him with an atmosphere of tedium. We have declawed the lion of Judah and made him a housecat for pale priests and pious old ladies.

I just have this growing conviction that what the church lacks is guts. We need more leaders with the spirit of Jonathan; the spirit of Benaiah; and the spirit of Jesus. We need more leaders who climb cliffs, chase lions, and throw Temple tantrums!

It’s not enough to have the truth in our minds. It’s not enough to have the truth in our hearts. We’ve got to get the truth in our guts!

It takes guts to share your faith. It takes guts to tithe. It takes guts to pursue a God-ordained dream. It takes guts to lead a small group. It takes guts to confess your sin. It takes guts to follow Christ.

Praying for guts!

I love what Mark has to say about guts.  Hey guys, it takes guts to be a leader – in your home, in your church, in your workplace, and among your friends.  It takes guts to be different. . .like Jesus.

Do you have the guts to follow Jesus?  To lead your family?  To have an unquenchable passion for God?  To change your community?  To do the right thing when no one else will?   To be different for the Kingdom’s sake?

If not, then like Mark and me, pray for guts.  Pray that God would give you the courage to be the man He designed and desires you to be.

I want to thank Mark for challenging me and allow me to use his post to challenge you.

Manliness

In his book, Manliness, Harvard professor Harvey Mansfield makes a compelling case that our society should stop looking at manliness as a curse and start embracing it as a virtue. It did not take long for the liberal media to begin howling at this rising moon with a clamor of protest. According to Mansfield, manliness “seeks and welcomes drama, and prefers times of war, conflict and risk.” Manliness asserts itself, craves adventure, loves action and power in a distinctively different way than women. Manliness desires the heart of a woman and seeks to protect and provide for her. It is this manliness that benefits and protects our culture especially in times of danger and war.

The Wall Street Journal last week reported that schools, parks and clubs across the nation that are removing diving boards from pools, and children are stopped from playing the game of tag. Why? The fear of someone getting hurt and filing lawsuits. This may be what therapists call a presenting problem. In fact, the culture is growing increasingly weary and suspicious of manliness. Boys are full of recklessness on
playgrounds and this frightens leaders in our litigious environment.

Where will the lack of manliness lead us? My guess is that it leads to a growing insecurity among males who find it confusing to even define “maleness” much less “manliness.” It leads to extreme expressions by males who have no role models of responsible masculinity. All too many males are acting in violence and predatory sexual nature both in reality television and reality. It leads to a timidity in leadership and a willingness to place an increasing burden on women to provide and protect themselves.

The ultimate expression of masculinity is Jesus Christ. He refused to be passive, accepted responsibility and awaited a greater reward. For the men who followed him, Jesus modeled what a man was to do in the face of violent opposition, and how a man was to stand firm in the face of overwhelming opposition. He elevated and honored women like no man in history. Jesus was and is the ultimate model of manliness for what He did when He died a shameful death in my place. You can trust him as your Savior, and you can also trust him to show you how to be genuinely manly.

Ed Litton