Lessons in Leadership From the Word of God, Essay Example

Romans 12:5 “In Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” expresses the concept of a Christian community. Through Christ, all Christians share a common life. Accordingly, difference ultimately coalesces into a unity. From the perspective of health care and, more specifically, nursing, the relevance of this passage is clear. We are part of the same community and therefore the hurt experienced by one member of this community is registered on all of us. When we think from a Christian perspective, there is no difference between the pain suffered by one or another. This forms the foundation of the nurse’s ethics and the call to serve, which is a call to ameliorate the lives of those whom the nursing profession serves.

In this sense, individual responsibility means fulfilling this obligation to others. The individual, in other words, is measured in terms of the extent to which he or she serves the community. Certainly, there are those within the community who are weaker – they are not able to serve, but instead require care. As part of the one body of Christ, those who are able are called to care for those parts of the greater body — to which we as Christians all belong –which are suffering.

Certainly, many medical institutions are secular in nature. But the Christian world-view provides a perspective which is relevant in all contexts, in so far as it stresses the obligation to serve others: “Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.” (Matthew 5:42) The ethical commitments of nursing thus can be summarized precisely through the reference to Christian tradition:

Works Cited

Maxell, J (ed.) (2006). NKJV: The Maxwell Leadership Bible: Lessons in Leadership from the Word of God. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.