As we continue our leading in the fruit of the Spirit series today’s focus is goodness. A dictionary definition of goodness is “the quality of being good, in particular; virtue; moral excellence.” The value of goodness in leadership is obvious to anyone who values strong character as part of leadership. In Andy Stanley’s book, The Next Generation Leader, he lists five qualities beginning with the letter “c” as traits of such leaders: competence, clarity, courage, coaching and character. For Stanley and many of us character is the quality of a leader that ties everything together. After all, if we aren’t trustable as leaders, we won’t be effective as leaders over the long haul.
Goodness can be equated with honesty. One of the eight historic principles of church order in the Presbyterian Church is: truth is in order to goodness. In other words when we know and value the truth it leads to goodness in our lives. As we all know it is easier to talk about good character and the traits of which it consists, including goodness, than to live them out in our lives and in our leadership. Far too many leaders have compromised our character in order to pursue some other, often short-term gain. While none of us are perfect, indeed, Jesus and the Apostle Paul reminded us that only God is truly good, the goal is to strive for goodness as leaders, so people will know they can trust and rely on us.
As with all the facets of the fruit of the Spirit, the point for us as leaders is we may have each in their fullest measure only as we are filled with the Holy Spirit. He gives us each of the nine qualities: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control as we call on Him to fill us with Himself on a regular basis. I start each day during my prayer time asking the Holy Spirit to fill me and guide me. For those of us who are leaders who follow Jesus, this is a great blessing. We get to have the God of the universe supply us with His goodness.
Even so, we must exercise that goodness in our lives and leadership. Just as filling a car with gasoline doesn’t make it go, without the application of a spark, and guidance, so being filled with the Holy Spirit and the goodness He brings to us, doesn’t mean we will act with goodness. We still have control of our decision and commitment-making processes. We must choose to live in goodness, or we won’t. The freedom we have to say, “Yes!” or “No!” to God is never more clearly demonstrated than in the moment by moment decisions and commitments we make in our lives. As leaders we make decisions, which become actions, which form habits, that become behaviors.
Overtime those behaviors determine our characters, whether for good or ill. How do you respond to those moment by moment opportunities to choose good? Are you consistently choosing what is right and true in your life, so that goodness is developing in you? Are there particular areas where you tend to take short-cuts, or make decisions that reflect low moral character rather than moral excellence? Remember that while goodness is a quality that becomes part of our character, we’re always only one stupid decision away from abandoning any of these good qualities as leaders. That’s why we must be on guard constantly. It’s also why the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is such a blessing for those who trust and follow Jesus.
Here’s to leading better by choosing to live with moral excellence in all of our decisions and commitments–today!