As we continue our Finishing Well focus for this week, we ask another important question: Do you know your potential roadblocks and detours to finishing well? As I mentioned yesterday, when a group of pastors who had not finished well were surveyed about why, all of them agreed they never saw it coming. They didn’t think it could happen to them. Recently, a person I know at an acquaintance level was arrested on the accusation of embezzling company funds. I was shocked, because I didn’t see it coming. I wonder if the person did?
One of the best ways I know not to be shocked by our own behavior is to examine our motives and behaviors daily. If I were to ask you, “What would derail you from finishing well?” Do you know the answer? Do you know what your potential roadblocks are? Four major potential stumbling blocks in all of our lives are Fame, Power, Fortune, and Sexual Immorality. While many other potential stumbling blocks are in our paths, the four just mentioned have derailed countless leaders who were doing effective jobs in their leadership in government, religion or business.
Do you ask yourself whether you are vulnerable in any of these areas? Do you know which one would be the most likely stumbling block for you? Who is holding you accountable to maintaining your integrity and growing in your character and leadership? While the questions are similar to yesterday, that’s because we must practice daily disciplines if we want to ensure we can prevail over a lifetime, and finish well. After all, the finish line is a long string of days away for each of us, and the string is longer or shorter based on how old we are right now.
One of the things I have learned about myself the areas where I am most likely to stumble have changed through the various seasons of my life. I got over the drive to pursue fame and fortune at virtually any cost quite early in my life. While I have gone through periods where I groused about not having enough money, the pursuit of wealth has never been a serious roadblock for me. In my younger days, the allure of affirmation from women was much more of a stumbling block than it is today.
As we mature in our lives, and the key word there is “mature,” not just age, but as we mature in our lives each of the temptations becomes less of a potential stumbling block, because maturity brings wisdom. We see where the 15-minute decisions will lead, far more easily than when we were in our teens or twenties, or even thirties and forties, so we make more 15-year decisions. If you are not familiar with the concept of 15-minute decisions, versus 15-year decisions, the idea is that when an opportunity comes before us we ask ourselves, how will this make me feel in 15 minutes; in 15 years? Indulging in the pursuit of any of the temptations mentioned above may feel good for fifteen minutes, but won’t feel so good in 15 years when it has destroyed a major portion of our lives.
Whatever our age right now, we must take time regularly to evaluate the potential roadblocks ahead of us, and plan to overcome them before we face them. It is far better and far easier to consider what we would do in a potentially devastating situation, before the situation ever arises. If you’re a person of faith, read the Bible, because God’s word gives us great guidance in these areas. In addition, take time to pray and ask God to fill you with His Holy Spirit so you will be empowered to avoid and overcome the temptations and potential roadblocks in your path. After all, we look forward to the ultimate in finishing well, when Jesus says to us, “Well done, good and faithful servants. Enter the joy of your master’s Kingdom, after this life ends.
Here’s to leading better, by evaluating and preparing to overcome the roadblocks to finishing well in our lives–today!