Leadership Quality: Commitment Part 2

Hezekiah Had It-2 Chronicles 31:20, 21

Hezekiah paid the price to get the job done. What is the price of commitment?

  1. Change of lifestyle: He couldn’t live the way his father lived.
  2. Loneliness: He stepped out in obedience, alone at first.
  3. Faith in God: He believed that God would bless his efforts.
  4. Criticism: He weathered the harsh questions of an older generation.
  5. Hard work and money: He gave up time, energy, and budget to reach his goal.
  6. Daily discipline: He had to instill a daily regimen to bring about reform.
  7. Constant pressure: He endured the pressure of potential failure and misunderstanding.

How to Beat Problems-Nehemiah 4:1-5:13

One of the great test of leadership is how you handle opposition. The usual tactics of opposition: ridicule; resistance; and rumor. Nehemiah modeled the right response to all three of these challenges. He . . .

  1. Relied on God.
  2. Respected the opposition.
  3. Reinforced his weak points.
  4. Reassured the people.
  5. Refused to quit.
  6. Renewed the people’s strength continually.

Persistence is the ultimate gauge of our leadership; the secret is to outlast our critics.

Four Characteristics-Nehemiah 6:15, 16

Commitment comes before anything else in a leader’s life. Leaders who complete a task possess at least four characteristics:

  1. A compelling purpose: They make a great commitment to a great cause.
  2. A clear perspective: They don’t let fear cloud their view of the future.
  3. A continual prayer: They pray about everything and gain God’s favor.
  4. A courageous persistence: They move ahead despite the odds.

Steady at All Cost-Job 13:15

This statement confounds nominal Christians, yet it is exactly the kind of affirmation that God uses to build His kingdom in the darkest places on earth.

Statements like this shake the very gates of hell. What can stop a leader who has made this kind of commitment? Not pain. Not death. Not hardship.

This is where Job finally ended up-willing to give up his life for God. Only in that position do we find complete liberation-free from any temptation, threat, bribe, sin, or enticement. When we can say, with the apostle Paul, that we have already died (Gal. 2:20), then we will have reached the place where God can really use us.

Join me next time for Leadership Quality: Commitment Part 3.