by Miles H. Hodges – The Covenant Nation

Lincoln in his second inaugural address (1865) explaining the role that God played – for both him and the nation  – in ultimately bringing America to some kind of success in its horrible Civil War

History reveals that human society has repeatedly experienced periods of excellent leadership ... and sadly also times of horrible leadership.  I thought I might look into the matter of what it is that distinguishes those two types of leadership.

The natural tendency (and usually with good cause) is to associate good leadership with an obviously strong society built on that leadership ... and vice versa, horrible leadership associated with a society going through horribly bad times.  Unfortunately, the matter of leadership tends to be much more complicated that this simple formula.

I would have a hard time qualifying Stalin as a great leader, although it was he who brought Russia to superpower status.  And certainly Hitler and Mao had their moments ... though thinking of these political powerhouses as “great men” – even momentarily − seems terribly wrong.  They certainly led people by the millions.  But is it that which qualifies a person to be considered a great leader?

On the other hand, few people at the time (and to some degree since then) would have seen Harry Truman as a great leader ... although I would certainly qualify him as such.  On the other hand, American leaders such as Washington and Lincoln were well understood at the time to be great leaders ... although not until they had finally brought the country through some terrible times.  But this in itself was the result of some complex factors.

And who would question the idea that Alexander the Great was somehow not a great leader ... a young man who at the age of 22 set out to conquer the known civilized world and achieved his greatness in a mere 10-year time period (sadly dying at age 32).  How did he do it?  Yet ... where is his Greek legacy today?

Actually, I consider leadership to be “great” not so much on the basis of the size of a person’s following as much as on the legacy they left with others because of the role they played in life.  Thus such “greatness” appears to me to be found at all kinds of different social levels ... even as small in form as a family. 

Let’s consider Jesus.  True, he had his moments ... with thousands enraptured by his teachings.  But his career ended most ingloriously ... a person largely abandoned by others.  Yet, there is no greater person in history than Jesus.  What he did changed history.  It left a legacy so great that it still burns brightly 2,000 years later.

Ultimately great leadership is to me a matter of the spiritual character of a person ... rather than their skills in manipulating others to follow them.  Certainly the latter goes on around us ... rather grandly in the world of politics, economics, even religion and academics.  Thankfully, true greatness can also be found in these same fields ... except not for reasons of personal ambition.  True greatness in those areas comes through individuals who use their God-given talents to help others discover and put to good use their own God-given talents.  They achieve greatness because of their ability to help others – even help sacrificially – to find their own greatness.  Greatness is not competitive.  It is collective, mutual.  It is a form of love ... not of self but of others. 

That’s what Jesus taught.  That’s what made Jesus great.  And all this because Jesus simply went at life on the basis of his own very special, very loving, relationship with the Heavenly Father who made us what we are all supposed to be ... loving each other as we share that same godly love.  Jesus was the all-perfect example of such love.  And Jesus still is.  He is an ongoing legacy − as long as we continue to pay attention to who and what Jesus was ... and still is.  And operating accordingly, we will find ourselves with God’s own Spirit directing and supporting us.  Great leaders have long known this ... and known this quite well.

Take the example of Lincoln for instance.  The Civil War was a bloody affair in the North’s effort to put an end to slavery ... and keep the nation united.  Two years into the war, thing were going so badly for the North that many were calling for Lincoln to simply give up the effort and let the South go its own way.  Even his wife, exasperated by all the criticism, joined that chorus.  Unsurprisingly, in the face of this withdrawal of support, he turned increasingly to God ... the God who had called him to this duty, but also the God whom Lincoln understood to be willing to guide and support Lincoln.  Indeed, at the close of the war, Lincoln made it very clear that America’s ultimate success in this brutal contest belonged strictly to God.  It was God that got them through things.  It was God that would continue to carry the country forward, according to God’s − not man’s – design. Success was certain ...  as long as we were careful to let God continue to lead us.

And the same can be said for Washington ... who also at one point in the war against King George’s troops found himself short of any serious success militarily.  He too thus looked to God on a regular basis, not only for personal direction ... but also for simply the spiritual support he needed to keep going in an exasperating war.

And so must we all, in order to carry out in a “great” manner the calling we have in life.  In looking to God’s Spirit for guidance and support − and not our own self-serving plans − we will find ourselves succeeding in doing what we clearly were called to be and do ... even when the road seems rough, even dangerous.  If we stay in the proper spirit of things, we will succeed.

Miles Hodges is a writer, historian and political analyst who explores the question of why societies behave as they do ... especially in this matter of their rise and fall.