THE ULTIMATE RESILIENT WARRIOR AND LEADER
Bob Dees
Director, LU Institute for Military Resilience
©2014 RFD LLC
Role models are important.
In Resilient Warriors, I highlighted Jesus as the Ultimate Resilient Warrior, stating that “Jesus
remained a role model of resilience, courage, and comfort to others in His darkest hour of
physical agony and spiritual separation from His Heavenly Father.” Likewise, in Resilient
Leaders I put a bright light on Jesus as the Ultimate Resilient Leader:
“Not only can leaders have redemption and forgiveness of sins through the person of
Jesus, they can also have the ‘secret sauce’ of leadership which affords them unmatched
resources to lead selflessly with character and competence, to lead with resilience over
time, and to lead from a position of dependence, devotion, and direction which is rooted
in the Creator God Himself. Jesus truly was the Ultimate Resilient Leader. We do well
to Follow Him.”
As I look Easter 2014 in the rear view mirror, I am reminded of some marvelous truths which
illustrate Jesus Christ’s ultimate resilience and relevance to each of us. Jesus weathered a
“storm” of cultural and religious persecution, betrayal, flogging, and ultimately crucifixion.
While other humans, even our closest friends, cannot truly understand the depths and distinctives
of our own pain and suffering, we can truly say and believe that “Jesus understands.” Not only
does He understand, but He loves, and forgives, and accepts, and binds up our wounds. From
Hebrews 12:3, “Consider Him who has endured such hostility against Himself, so that you will
not grow weary and lose heart.” Know that Jesus truly understands whatever you and I may be
going through on this journey of life.
And this is just the beginning of the Easter story. Jesus defeated death, He won the ultimate
victory over Satan, and through resurrection He “bounced up” all the way to Heaven to sit at the
right hand of God the Father as our Advocate. This is ultimate resilience! And His act of
“substitutionary atonement” on our behalf allows us the same resilience, both temporally and
eternally. For our temporal days on earth, we have the amazing indwelling of God’s Holy Spirit
which provides comfort, counsel, and resilience under the toughest of life’s challenges. “Greater
is He who is in us than he who is in the world.”
Similarly, as each of us succumbs to physical death, we as Christians can also “bounce up” to
life in eternity with the very God who created us. “He who has the Son has life, he who does not
have the Son of God does not have eternal life.”
For warriors in every walk of life, including our military, these are powerful truths which allow
us to be strong and courageous. We can be strong and courageous as we face tomorrow, and as
we face eternity. This confident knowledge that “if God is for us, who can be against us” allows
us to be “more than victors through Him who loved us.”
“The horse is prepared for the day of battle,
But VICTORY belongs to the LORD”
Proverbs 21:31
Respectfully in Christ,
Bob
Bob Dees
LU Institute for Military Resilience
www.LUOnline.com/IMR
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