Are you a leader of character or compromise? (69-5)

How a leader deals with the circumstances of life, both positive and negative, tells many things about their character. Circumstances can’t always make a leader’s character, but they certainly will reveal it. Read Genesis 50:15-21.

Joseph puts his entire life in perspective in the final chapter of Genesis. The single greatest test of Joseph’s character may have come at the height of his power. During a terrible famine, his brothers, desperate for food, humbly bow down before him just as he had predicted decades earlier. At a moment when he could have extracted any measure of revenge, Joseph forgave his brothers.

The character Joseph had developed during his years as a slave and in prison enabled him to refrain from exacting the kind of vengeance that a lesser leader would have dished out. Because of the character he had developed, Joseph was able to maintain the proper perspective and use his power to forgive and bless his brothers (similar to what Jesus did for us as described in Romans 5:8-11).

Both extreme blessings and extreme adversity bring our leadership lives to a crossroads that makes us choose one of two paths: character or compromise. Every time a leader chooses character, they become stronger. This is true even if their choice brings negative consequences i.e. the choice Joseph made concerning maintaining a moral position with Potiphar’s wife that landed him in prison. The development of character is at the heart of a leader’s development. To have God’s perspective on life, leaders must develop their character.

Philippians 3:12: Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.