style="font-size:15px;"> God also gives this list of character qualities for leaders because leaders need to be focused on the mission. This requires leading yourself well. If you can’t lead yourself, you will be consumed with inner battles and struggles rather than focused on the mission God has given.
The character gauge is about God’s transforming work in your character. It’s no less spiritual than the spiritual intimacy gauge. As Dallas Willard writes, “The transformation of godly character is a supernatural outflow of the life of Christ in us as expressed through the fruit of the Spirit.”6 It encompasses holiness and obedience (in your thinking and actions). It’s about your integrity. If there is integrity, then there is congruency between the person everyone sees publicly and the person you know privately. Character is also intertwined with areas you need to take responsibility for: your emotions, your resiliency, your energy level and your self-care.
The character gauge helps you reflect and evaluate this key dimension of your life. These questions will provide a starting point:
•In reflecting on holiness and obedience, which of these words or phrases would describe you: defeated, stuck, struggling, transforming, pursuing obedience, purity?
•Where isn’t there congruency between your public persona and your private life?
•Reflect on the list of the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22–23). Is your behavior in alignment with these fruit often, sometimes or not so much?
•Read over the list of characteristics in 1 Timothy 3:1–13. Which of these characteristics would others see in you? Where are you struggling?
•Is there an aspect of your character that others shouldn’t seek to replicate right now?
Gauge #3—Relational
Soon after Jesus’ desert experience, he begins calling disciples into relationship with himself. In Mark 1:16–18, Jesus calls two fisherman, Simon and Andrew, to “Come, follow me.” This is one snapshot that illustrates the ongoing theme of relationships and community in Jesus’ life.
Jesus’ life was filled with relationships. The Gospels provide many vivid snapshots of Jesus with people. He had ongoing relationships with his family and disciples. He loved children, reached out to the sick and marginalized, spent time with the sinful, challenged the religious and engaged the powerful. Jesus lived, loved, served and suffered in the context of close relationships and community.
Similarly, you and I are created for relationships. As the director of Arrow in England, James Lawrence, writes, “We can certainly connect to God ‘vertically’ through prayer, but to feel his grace completely, we have to open our hearts to the full expression of it ‘horizontally’ through other people.”7
As we seek to lead ourselves, we need relationships. We need community. As Christ-followers we are one part of a larger body. We need the support, gifts and accountability of the larger body. We need to foster healthy friendships, love our neighbors, engage in a local church, support the marginalized and be ambassadors who build bridges to those who don’t yet follow Jesus. Those who are married need to nurture their marriages and invest in their children.
This isn’t easy. Beyond prioritizing relationships, we need specific skills to help to cultivate them. We need to practice the long list of “one anothers” of the New Testament. We need to be able to engage conflict redemptively, to share our faith contagiously, to invite others into our lives, to develop appropriate boundaries and much more.
The relational gauge explores the health of your relationships as well as your relational skillset. Depending on life circumstances, this area can involve a wide variety of relationships, including with a spouse, children, extended family, close friends, neighbors, people without faith in Christ, church family, etc. Here are some key reflection questions for this gauge:
•Review your primary relationships. What words would you use to describe them: disconnected, frustrating, stagnant, supportive, deepening, flourishing?
•Are you able to engage conflict in healthy, redemptive ways?
•Have you recently connected with a good friend?
•How would you describe the system of relational support in your life?
•Do you have many intentional, ongoing relationships with people who don’t yet follow Jesus?
Gauge #4—Service
By calling disciples to “Follow me” in community, Jesus had a clear purpose in mind—“and I make you fish for people” (Mark 1:17, NRSV). The calling of his disciples to form a community was very intentional. Quoting Isaiah 61:1–2, Jesus would from this community launch his ministry to “proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to set the oppressed free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18–19).
A core purpose of this community was to share the kingdom of God with the world. So Jesus invested a great majority of his time in training his disciples to prepare them for this service. The goal was for them to be ready to carry on his world-changing mission.
At the heart of Jesus’ ministry was service. To do this, Jesus “made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant” (Philippians 2:7). There are many snapshots of Jesus modeling servanthood. My favorite is Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. Simon Peter was shocked and objected to what seemed like a great indignity to his Lord. Jesus’ rebuke was clear: “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me” (John 13:8). As James Lawrence writes, “Neither success nor status defines Christian leaders; service defines a Christian leader.”8
Jesus deserved and could have commanded being served, but he modeled something radically different. As James and John angled for positions of prominence, Jesus taught them that servanthood is the pathway to greatness (Mark 10:43). He demonstrated surrender and submission as he “humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2:8). In giving his life as a ransom for many (Mark 10:45), Jesus modeled the reality of sacrifice and suffering.
He also sought first and foremost to seek God’s splendor. His greatest desire was to glorify the Father. Even as he faced his own death, his prayer was “Father, glorify your name!” (John 12:28). The result was that “God exalted him to the highest place…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow…and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:9–11).
We are not called to serve in order to earn acceptance or favor with God. Service is an outflow and privilege from our position in Christ. We have been created for works of service and to contribute to God’s mission. As Paul wrote, “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works” (Ephesians 2:10). This isn’t reserved for pastors or missionaries or just when we volunteer at church or in the community. It’s for all followers of Christ, regardless of vocation, and it includes the 100-plus waking hours you spend living, working and serving on the frontlines of life Monday to Saturday.
There are many gifts by which God equips us to serve (1 Corinthians 12:4–6). Everyone has a part to play. There are also many ways to serve. Whether it is service to the poor (James 1:27), the lost (Matthew 28:19–20), widows and orphans (James 2:27), brothers and sisters in the body of Christ (1 Thessalonians 2:8), or even our enemies (Matthew 5:43–47), our service is another way to respond to
