One mark of a truly great leader is the ability to survey the landscape of issues and separate things that matter from the peripheral. In his outstanding critique of the Reagan presidency, Dinesh D’Souza argues that Reagan’s effectiveness as a leader was determined by his ability to see things in their relative importance.
Reagan’s persistent refusal to immerse himself in the “morass of detail” allowed him to focus on things that were worthy of his time. He has been labeled naïve, disinterested, and worse, incompetent. Yet when he left office, the man known as “the Great Communicator” had led in the resurgence of America economically and militarily.
How could this happen? How could an “ordinary man” become such a force for change? He stood for a set of ideas, he meant them, and he wrote them into the national consciousness. Reagan understood the “ideas” that were important as well as the ones that weren’t.
One of Jesus’ complaints against the Pharisees was that they had lost sight of the truly important. Using the smallest and largest of the ceremonially clean animals as an analogy, Jesus accused them of “straining a gnat, and swallowing a camel.” While paying attention to trivial matters, they were guilty of overlooking the significant, and in the process guilty of “swallowing a camel.” They were very much earnest about Jewish law; but for all that they had sadly misinterpreted the law. They laid great stress upon the infinitely little, until the weightier matters of the law passed out of sight. They magnified trifles, and misapplied the important.
As a pastor I am constantly called on to judge the relative importance of issues. This is true whether we’re talking about time, money, or personal resources. Which meetings are worthy of my time? Which ministries are worthy of our dollars? Which programs are worthy of our people.
Furthermore, problems arise, each one requiring me to evaluate the importance of things. Parishioners complain about everything from the length of services to the style of music to the scheduling of events to the behavior of teens to the dress of others.
Am I happy with everything that goes on in my church? No, of course not. Do I wish my congregation displayed more spiritual discernment in regard to dress and entertainment and cultural trends? Yes, of course I do! But unless I am willing to lose the opportunity of ministry altogether I’d better get use to swallowing a few gnats.
There comes a time in the ministry of each pastor when he must decide which battles are worth fighting and which battlefields are worthy of his blood. Simply put, there some battles I’m perfectly willing to lose today if in doing so I can win the war tomorrow.
I’m not telling you anything new. Even if you refuse to admit it, and even if you determine the value of things differently that I do, you cannot escape it. We all must decide what is important, knowing that mistaken magnitudes may paralyze the work. Shouldn’t we be willing to stomach a few gnats for the sake of the kingdom? I’ll swallow a few of yours if you’ll pay me the same courtesy.