Seven Men – RBC Study Guide for George Washington

Portrait of George Washington — The earliest known portrait of George Washington captures the look of a young man with ambition. The portrait was painted about 12 years after Washington’s service in that war, and several years before he would reenter military service in the American Revolution.

Return to the Main Page for the Study Guide for Seven Men and the Secret of their Greatness by Eric Metaxas.

Focus for the Week

What is the right kind of ambition?

Act

Our focus last week was “courage”? How did we agree that courage is foundational to the Christian life?

How did you take action in “everyday” ways during the last week based on the challenges of our study? Remember to be specific! How did you show courage?

Encourage

Metaxas was very willing to acknowledge some of Washington’s flaws. What were these flaws?

Do you Washington’s flaws were significant enough that they should have disqualified him from being included in a book like this?

Metaxas begins the first chapter by pointing out that although everyone knows who George Washington was (our capital and a state are named after him!) few have really considered the paradoxes of his life. To begin with, Washington is known as the “father of our country.” Yet, he never had any children of his own.

What was the paradoxical action that Metaxas says Washington took?

But here’s the biggest contradiction: Washington was an extremely ambitious young man who worked hard to achieve fame, glory, land, and riches— yet at a pivotal moment in American history, he did something so selfless that it’s difficult to fully fathom. It’s principally because of this one thing that he’s included in this book. So what did he do? In a nutshell, he voluntarily gave up incredible power. Seven Men (pp. 2-3). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition.

What character qualities came together so that Washington made such a great decision?

Equip

Read Philippians 2:5-12

How did Jesus set the ultimate example the right sort of ambition in leadership?

Christ gave up what was legitimately His. But in the end was he left with nothing? See Philippians 2:10-11.

Act

How can Christian men legitimately show ambition today?

What should the ambitions of our local church be?

In what areas do you need to consider being more ambitious?

For Further Reading and Study

Thom Rainer, Fifteen Characterstics of Great Leaders

George Washington’s Farewell Address