“This! Is! SPARTA! And other ways to handle conflict.”

I’m unapologetically a man’s man…
and because of that, this movie clip will live rent-free in my head until I’m 6 feet under.


If you haven’t seen the movie 300 (not the horribly done sequel or any other rendition sent out for a cash grab), you know it and have gone and lifted weights after watching it. You’re ready to kick in doors, fight the battle and rescue what needs rescuing.


But, needless to say, your church isn’t Sparta and resolving conflict… well, kicking people into a bottomless pit isn’t your wisest call.

Every leader who follows Jesus will eventually walk into a room thick with tension. Sometimes that tension comes because you are standing firm in truth and refusing to bend when the pressure mounts. Other times, it comes because authority is testing you, and God is calling you not to roar like a lion but to bow like a lamb. Still other moments are harder to face, when the tension is not persecution or misunderstanding but the fruit of your own sin.

The first task is to discern the source. If the tension arises because you are holding the line of truth, do not back down. The call of Christ is to be bold, even if it means being misunderstood or opposed. Jesus Himself warned us that if they persecuted Him, they would persecute us also. Let your soul be anchored here: opposition for the sake of truth is not failure but faithfulness.

At other times, tension is not a test of courage but a test of humility. Scripture calls us to honor governing authorities, to submit when submission honors Christ, and to remember that the King we serve wore a crown of thorns before He wore a crown of glory. Sometimes leadership looks like yielding, absorbing the friction, and choosing peace over pride. It is not weakness to lay down your right to be right if it draws people’s eyes back to Jesus.

But if the tension is the product of your own pride, words, or sin, then the only faithful response is repentance. Do not excuse yourself. Do not shift blame. Call it what it is, confess it before God, and own it before those you have harmed. Leaders who refuse to repent fracture teams. Leaders who repent invite the Spirit to heal what was broken.

Pete Scazzero often says that emotional health and spiritual maturity cannot be separated. If you ignore your inner life, tension will devour you. Mark Driscoll reminds us that leadership requires boldness, a spine, and the willingness to take a hit. Put together, these truths remind us that leaders must learn to stand like lions when truth is at stake, to submit like lambs when God calls for humility, and to repent like children when we fall short.

Tension. Will. Come.


The only question is whether you will let it form you into the image of Jesus or harden you into the image of your flesh.