C h a p t e r 1 7
LEADERS ARE
PATIENT
“We urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle,
encourage the timid, help the weak,
be patient with everyone”
(I Thess. 5:14).Oswald Sanders said: “Spiritual leaders need a healthy endowment of
patience.”^1 He’s absolutely right – as every maturing leader well knows
from his own experience! As leaders develop in persistence, they must also
simultaneously grow in patience. Persistence without patience causes a
leader to either run ahead of – or run over – his followers! They become
bulldozers rather than trailblazers. A wise leader also seeks to nurture the
virtue of patience in his life.
Principle:
“Persistence without patience causes leaders to run
over people.”In I Corinthians 15:58 that I quoted in the previous chapter, Paul
exhorted us to be both “steadfast” and “immovable.” Those attributes
require patience – and often lots of it! Seldom is God’s time our time.