Self Evaluation 3 and 4

Leadership Straight from Bill Hybels Is My Character Conforming to The Image of Christ? Is My Pride Subdued? Is my character conforming to the image of Christ? Check any employee survey. What do they most want from a boss? Honesty. Ask people in a congregation, "What do you most want from your pastor?" Integrity. Honesty. It is almost impossible to lead well if you have any serious character defects. If you lie, people will not follow you for long. If you say, "I'll be there." And then you are not there. People will not follow you for long. Men and women have to be conformed to the image of Christ. It is what gives your leadership believability over the long period of time. Which is why every time you hear about a moral scandal or a financial scandal, you think, "Hey, I cannot follow that leader. I do not trust that leader. They have character issues." So, I ask myself every 30 days, "Does my character conform to the image of Christ?" Closely to this is the fourth question, is my pride subdued? I love sailboats. If the wind is blowing this way on a lake or an ocean, you know you cannot sail a sailboat directly into the wind. I took my 7 year old grandson for the first time in his life recently. He wanted to go right where the wind was blowing right at us. I said, "Henry, you cannot sail this boat directly into the wind." He said, "There is a dock over there that I want to go to." I said, "But the wind is blowing. Trust me you cannot do it." So I had to teach him that you have to sail in this direction, then you have to tack over this direction, then tack in that direction, then tack that direction. Why am I explaining this to you? Because I miss sailing and I needed a few moments. James 4:6 says, "God opposes the proud. He gives grace to the humble." Here is what I realize about pride. It says that God makes it impossible to get where you are going, where your pride wants to take you. God will oppose, just like the wind opposes a sailboat. God will oppose the proud. He will just make your plans really difficult. He will close doors. God opposes the proud, just like that stiff wind in the face of a sailboat. But do you know how that verse finishes? But He gives grace to the humble. When you have wind blowing like this and you turn that boat around and now that boat... I will draw this boat... that boat is going downwind. You have the sail out on this side and the other sail out on this side. Now the current and wind are pushing you. This is the image I keep in my mind all of the time. If I am in a situation where I feel myself getting proud about something, I think, "Bill, do not go...that is enough. God will oppose you today. He will oppose you tomorrow. He will oppose you every day until you turn the boat around and you go in the direction of humility. Because he gives grace to the humble." Give credit to the team. Reach out to the least important people in your congregation. Be available to overlooked people. Be courteous in very small ways to show that pride has not gotten to you. You will be glad.