God-honoring leaders place extreme importance on values in long-range planning. Read Micah 2:1-5.

Micah shows us what it looks like when leaders eliminate godly values when making plans for the future. He paints a picture of leaders who plan evil and carry it out “because they have the power to do it.” Israel’s leaders forced their plans on the poor and oppressed who were unable to stop them. The government, religious, and business leaders were defrauding them of their homes and inheritance. Through Micah God gave a stern warning that He would thwart the schemes of those who plan and plot evil for their own gain.

God-honoring leadership requires basic integrity or it will not be sustained. Read Hosea 5 focusing on verse 10.

Through Hosea God was pronouncing judgment on the people in the Northern Kingdom. In chapter five, He focused on the failure of the leaders in their assignment to live a positive example of integrity before the people. In verse 10, God condemns the leaders of the tribe of Judah for emulating the actions of the Northern Kingdom by moving the boundary stones. Boundary stones were legal markers placed generations earlier to identify property lines for each family’s God-given plot of land. These defined boundaries were not to be moved because they helped protect the inheritance of widows and orphans when something happened to the head of the family.

Effective leaders learn from their character failures. Read Daniel 4:17, 24-25, 27, and 36-37.

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was the most powerful leader in the known world and he knew it. God had established his position to bring His judgment on Judah and several other nations, but had not authorized his values that included extreme brutality or his personal pride. God gave Nebuchadnezzar a dream to help him understand the source of power and authority. God even sent His servant Daniel to interpret his dream and clearly explain that God wanted him to change his inner most beliefs so that his behavior could change. The dream got Nebuchadnezzar’s attention and he was a changed man for awhile, but change is only permanent when the value or truth behind the behavior is changed.

Nebuchadnezzar was frightened by his dream but that fear wasn’t sufficient to change his inner-deeper-secret beliefs concerning his personal values. According to verse 29, “Twelve months later… he said, ‘Is not this the great Babylon I have built as a royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?’” The temporary changes from the fear caused by the dream didn’t last and Nebuchadnezzar fell back into old attitudes.

Any leader who doesn’t learn from failure won’t lead effectively for very long but if they merely correct a behavior that led to the failure and don’t deal with the core truth behind the behavior, they have only completed part of the learning process. Nebuchadnezzar needed to deal with both his proud behavior and his self-honoring values that caused the behavior. Because Nebuchadnezzar refused to heed God’s warning about pride, God threw him into seven years of mental illness and taught him the value of humility. That lesson caused Nebuchadnezzar to change his deepest core truths concerning where power and influence came from and how he was to use his power.

Leadership requires change and growth. Often leaders see the needed change and start the process of change, but sustaining change can be much more difficult. The reason change is difficult to sustain, like Nebuchadnezzar in today’s scripture, once the temporary stimulus for change is forgotten the core truth returns to dominate attitudes and behavior. To make change permanent the core truth driving the behavior must change.

Have you made several attempts to change destructive behavior but each time returned to the old behavior? Have you made promises to yourself and others that you consistently have broken and feel like there is no choice but to live with the shame of these broken promises? Are you afraid to even consider another run at making a change you know would be good for your team and family? Take courage, real change is possible. Wise leaders examine the definitions and attitudes that let them think their destructive behavior is acceptable. They adjust the deeply held internal truths that authorized them to live with the problematic behavior. Nebuchadnezzar did, there is a great end to the story in verses 36-37.

Wise leaders not only learn lessons from the past but apply that knowledge to their current situation. Read Proverbs 24:30-34.

King Solomon used a little story within a series of proverbs to teach a valuable lesson. The wise farmer learns from and applies information from every situation even a lazy neighbor. The wise farmer learned a lot more than his eyes saw at first glance. At first glance he learned that weeds grow in the field of a lazy farmer who lacks good judgment. A second look gave the wise farmer an application much deeper.

Knowing and understanding Biblical truth is critical if a Christian leader is to make God-honoring decisions. Read Proverbs 23:23.

Decision making is one of leadership’s core competencies. The ability to make excellent decisions differentiates between poor and good, and good and great leaders. A leader’s decisions reveal values and intelligence. And, while it is crucial that leaders make wise decisions, no decision is wise if it is built on falsehood rather than the truth.