Peter Kritas Mailpost on Leadership and Spirituality Part 2
Friday, June 4th, 2010
Peter Kritas Mailpost on Leadership and Spirituality Part 2
Samuel Brengle was one of the truly great Leaders of the Salvation Army. A man of scholarship as well as of unusual Spiritual power, he outlined the role to Leadership in challenging words: “It is not gained by seeking great things for ourselves, but rather, like Paul the apostle, by counting those things that are gain to us as loss for Christ. That is a great price, but it must be unflinchingly paid by him who would be not merely a nominal but a real Spiritual Leader of men, a Leader whose power is recognized and felt in heaven, on earth, and in hell. He chose to be a Leader of men rather than a Visionary, and that was the secret of his power that manifest the growth of the organisation.
Pride
The very fact that a man has risen to a position of Leadership and prominence tends to engender a secret self-congratulation and pride which, if not checked, will unfit them for further advancement, for “everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination ” (Prov. 16:5)… strong and searching words, are they not? Nothing is more distasteful than self-conceit. That first and fundamental sin in essence aims at enthroning self at the expense of the universal God.
Sin is a word used to express the non-adherence to the universal laws. Of the myriad forms that sin assumes, none is more abhorrent than Spiritual pride. To be proud of gifts given or of the position we have been elevated to, is to forget gratitude for all we have received.
The ego can become enflamed when we achieve good things and Pride is the sin of whose presence its victim is least conscious. There are, however, three tests that will help us discover whether or not we have succumbed to it.
The Test of Precedence
How do we react when another is selected for the assignment we expected or for the office or business we coveted? When another is promoted and we are overlooked? When another outshines us in gifts and accomplishments?
The Test of Sincerity
In our moments of honest self-criticism we will say many things about ourselves and really mean them. But how do we feel when others, especially our rivals, say exactly the same things about us?