The making of a salad has become such an art. Just the different kinds of lettuce is amazing. There is my personal favorite – Iceberg Lettuce –I love the crunch and moisture content. Then there is Butter or Boston Lettuce, Red Tip Lettuce, Romaine Lettuce, and Oak Leaf Lettuce…but the salad for today is the leadership salad. I would recommend this salad for anyone who desires to improve their leadership effectiveness. The salad consists of five different kinds of lettuce blended together in a powerful mixture that will change your diet forever.
The salad is actually found in the Bible – in the New Testament: Hebrews 10:22-25. “Let us (lettuce #1) draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith. Let us (lettuce #2) hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us (lettuce #3) consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us (lettuce #4) not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us (lettuce #5) encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
These five exhortations of “Let Us” comprise the lettuce of the leadership salad. Each exhortation is rich with leadership significance and life changing principles. The salad bar is an attempt at being cute, but the exhortations are sobering reality aimed at very serious concepts. This posting will explore the second of these five different types of lettuce.
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” This great tasting leadership lettuce brings three key concepts to the forefront. The first is the idea of holding on – Let us hold.... the picture being drawn for us is to grip or grasp something in a firm hand – to seize.
I have a wonderful grandson who has just turned two. We are on a walk recently and every time he saw an interesting rock, he had to stop and pick it up. Once both of his hands were filled with valuable gravel, he was content to continue the stroll. Getting back to the homestead, mom shared that it was nappy time and Jacob needed to rest for a while. I asked him to put the rocks down so that he could take a snooze. Instead of dropping the rocks, his fists turned white with the determination not to surrender his treasure. That is the picture being painted here – hold on, maintain such a grip that no man can break; don't dare drop the pearls in your hand; don't let the gold slip between your fingers; don't let anyone pry your fingers apart from the diamonds in your grasp.
This word for unswervingly is a great word. In the Greek, they often place the letter alpha in front of a word to indicate the opposite of the root word. In this case the word is alpha plus the word for lay down or rest - so this term means the opposite of laying down or taking a rest. In other words, we could translate this phrase “relax your grip on hope – no way!” “Don't even think about resting in your efforts; don't even consider laying down what is in your grasp!”
And what is in your hand – “the hope we profess.” The biblical term for hope is not like the English word. Hope in my vocabulary has an element of doubt, a percentage of potential failure. “I hope it doesn't rain this afternoon (there is a 30% chance).” “I hope the Buckeyes can win the game tomorrow.” “I hope my flight is on time.” All of these statements have a major doubt factor – some greater than others. But biblical hope has no element of possible failure. Biblical hope is based upon the promises of God and therefore would be better translated (in my opinion) as confidence. I have hope – I have complete confidence in the promises of God.
Let us hold on with an iron grip, and never consider laying down, the confidence we have in what we profess. And what is it that we profess? It is the basis for the promises of God – Jesus is Risen! Jesus is Lord! Jesus offers us forgiveness and eternal life. Whoever believes in Him, He has given the right to be called the children of God. And why can we be so confident? Verse 23 ends with the answer to this inquiry – faithful is the One who is doing the promising. We do not hold on to some human forecast or some philosophy of man, but rather, we hold the very promises of the Almighty One. As a leader in a world of chaos, we have the opportunity to draw near to God and hold firmly in our hand the promises of the Sovereign One.
This kind of lettuce is worth considering. This lettuce is rich in significance and powerful when applied to real life in 2012. But there's more lettuce in the leadership salad bar. More to come.....
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