One Trait Above All

I had the honor of hosting my Mom and Dad at our house this weekend, mom's cooking and hugs are priceless! They were here to see our boys play football and show our family that they love us (& my brother David's family too!). This morning my Dad led a devotional with our family in the front room, challenging my kids to consider their responsibility to honor authority and treat their siblings with love and respect. It was  just like old times-Dad never was short on lessons that I still seek to incorporate into my life.

One statement my Dad made, while on the way to the airport, hit me with extra importance. It was a comment as common in leadership circles as a John Maxwell leadership law-only I this time I heard it with the gravity King Josiah did when the law was found under the corner of the temple. I've built my life on this fundamental principle but I'm not sure I've emphasized it enough in recent years. You're probably thinking: "enough already Nate, tell me what he said."  O.K., but you REALLY need to think about its value in your life now-even AFTER you've reached your leadership assignment. 

"Out of all of the characteristics, all of the traits that HAS to be in the life of a disciple-the most important has to be whether or not a person is TEACHABLE." For whatever reason many leaders forget to guard this posture, this attitude in their life. Once its gone, people go blind to their weaknesses and stifle their development. As a leader serving many leaders I have observed that a person who is not teachable is impossible to promote and extremely difficult to follow. Why? I think its because the ultimate authority, namely GOD, continues to observe and evaluate our attitude as we age. We may have really needed him when we had nothing, were virtually unknown and broke. He still wants to know if we're teachable, whether or not we're willing to shift gears, trust Him with the outcome of our efforts. At the end of the day, God is the one who sets leaders into positions of authority and He is the one that takes them down. How teachable are you?