5 questions for a leader’s spiritual self-assessment
ChatGPTSecond Peter 1:5-7 contains several important areas that should be developing in the life of a believer. Reading this passage recently made me take stock of my own life and leadership.
"[M]ake every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love" (2 Peter 1:5-7, NIV).
Here's a mini self-examination quiz based on this Scripture:
1. Goodness—How do I treat others? (Like I want to be treated?)
2. Knowledge—Am I learning more about God?
3. Self-control—How often does my personal sin (like pride, lust or greed) rear its head?
4. Perseverance—Do I trust the Lord in affliction?
5. Love—Would the people closest to me describe me as loving?
When I first believed, I started learning how to add "goodness" into my life. I tried to speak with more kindness to my wife and learned what it meant to be a man and a father. I strived to be an ethical leader.
I also jumped into studying. I listened to teachers, read books, joined Bible studies. I soaked in "knowledge." This was going on as I was also learning how to act with more "goodness."
But as I reveled in my newfound status as a progressing believer, my sin rose in defiance, forcing me to go back to learn the basics of "self-control."
This back-and-forth battle lasted for years. Decades. (Okay, it still goes on today.)
Along the way, as life's troubles knocked me around, I started understanding perseverance. I learned about trusting, waiting and enduring. You probably have, too.
I thought I understood love, after having been a husband, father, and now a grandfather, but new dimensions of it are still opening up for me, even in my late fifties.
Where are you in all this? As you conduct your own self-assessment, do you find yourself stuck in one area of spiritual development, or are you growing in several?
Understanding where we are in our growth is helpful, but verse 8 gives us the real reason we need to actively pursue it:
"The more you grow like this, the more productive and useful you will be in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 1:8, NLT).
I want to be productive and useful in the time I have left on this earth, don't you? Leaders have a wonderful opportunity to see their usefulness in the lives of those they impact.
So, as we look at our spiritual progress, let's "make every effort" to grow (see verse 1). Rather than just letting growth happen on its own, let's help it along!
Still developing,
Tom Harper
Founder, BiblicalLeadership.com
LinkedIn profile | Books
 | Tom Harper is publisher of BiblicalLeadership.com and executive chairman of Networld Media Group, a business-to-business publisher and event producer. He has written five books, including Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership (DeepWater Books, 2019) as well as the Christian business fable Through Colored Glasses and its sequel Inner Threat (DeepWater, 2022). Learn More » |
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