What did he mean by that? Billy read often in the Bible the
words of Jesus to his disciples, “Whoever desires to come after
me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses
his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it.” Billy denied him-
self in countless ways and took up his cross—and followed Jesus.
Mel Gibson’s film depicts the depths of Jesus’ physical agony.
The Bible describes also his mental anguish, saying that the night
before his crucifixion he was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the
point of death,” and “offered up prayers and petitions with loud
cries and tears.” On the cross, Jesus felt abandoned by his heavenly
Father, crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
The cross represents a furnace of a different sort. This under-
standing of Jesus, who reached out in love to children and the
poor but died in agony to save mankind while blessing his perse-
cutors, fills a follower with intensity and awe. When one believes
that one’s actions are not random and meaningless, and even
more important, that one’s actions influence eternal realities far
larger than what happens in one’s brief life, it humbles and sobers
the soul.
For Billy, it also created a laser focus. Christians believe that
the salvation of a single soul is of supreme value; all else fades
beside this greatest consideration—that each person will live for-
ever, either separated from God, or blessedly and joyfully in com-
munity with him. Billy knew the Bible stated Jesus had suffered
the horrors of the cross “for the joy that was set before him.” He
too was fueled by that proffered joy.
■ ■ ■What a strange alchemy great leadership is! A potent combustible
pressured into a person’s life—like high octane fuel: once dark
decay drawn from the deeps but suddenly in new form, ignited
and powerful.
The furnace that forges leadership burns steadily, and this is
particularly true among those charged with very large responsi-The Leadership Secrets of Billy Graham