From Righteousness to Ruin

“Do not be excessively righteous, and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?” (Eccl. 7:16) When I first read this verse, I thought, “How can we be too righteous? I mean, after all, isn’t that what we are striving for?” But I knew there was more to this verse than met the eye at first glance. Some truths must be dug out as hidden treasure.

The author of Ecclesiastes questions everything about life, labeling almost all things as futile and vain, until he comes to the final conclusion that God must be the center of all. When read in context, the real message behind this verse is that righteousness and wisdom apart from God, like everything apart from God, is “vanity and striving after wind.” This verse of scripture refers to the attitude of a Pharisee. We ruin ourselves as witnesses for Christ and ministers of His gospel when we become excessively righteous and overly wise.

Excessively righteous and overly wise people are prideful people. The excessively righteous is the self-righteous, self-exalting man or woman who values religion over relationship. This person is concerned more with outward appearances than inward sanctification. Her righteousness is self-honoring, not God-honoring. Overly wise people are those whose focus has become imbalanced, seeking knowledge as priority over seeing that knowledge make a difference for the Kingdom. These may have initially sought the knowledge of God with a pure and humble heart, but their motive has taken an unfortunate turn to selfish gain. When one seeks to know God’s word to elevate self, rather than to elevate God, she is headed for ruin.

When we concern ourselves primarily with our performance or our knowledge of God, our focus has shifted away from God and His purposes. “My” performance can easily be all about me, not God’s work in and through me. “My” knowledge level can also easily be all about me, not God’s revelation of knowledge to and through me to benefit others. As we grow in wisdom and righteousness, we grow in danger of adopting a Pharisaic attitude.

2 Chronicles 26:16 tells us how King Uzziah went from righteousness to ruin: “But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God.” Jesus warns us in Matthew 6:1-4, “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven.”

As devoted followers of Christ and leaders of others in our homes, neighborhoods, study groups, churches and beyond, we must be careful to guard our hearts from becoming full of ourselves instead of full of Him. We would also be wise to discern the hearts of those we choose to follow.

Some questions to apply to our own lives and to the lives of those who seek to influence us:

• Who is doing the work of righteousness in the life, God or the person?
• Who is receiving the glory for the righteousness and wisdom, God or the person?
• How do others perceive the righteousness, as a reflection of God or of the person?
• Could others who are under the person’s influence in any way perceive the wisdom as conceitedness, or the righteousness as condescension?
• What fruit is the righteous behavior and wisdom bringing to the Kingdom?
• Have you personally ever been tempted to misuse His gifts of righteousness and wisdom for selfish gain?
• How have you seen the righteous and the wise trip over their pride in today’s culture?
• How can you pass on this warning to others under your watch?

Perhaps more than any other time in history, the 21st century Christian community must be careful to evaluate the motives of the heart. We must first be careful that the work being done in and through our lives is God's work, not our own. Further, we must continually remain alert to our heart's condition as He works in us to make us more like Him and reveal to us more of His truths. As we are transformed by Him, we must be on guard to the increasing temptation to believe we are "above" others who have yet to know or grow in Him, rather than see ourselves as fellow sojourners on His earth.

The Proverbial Truth is, "Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling." (Pr 16:18) "A man's pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor." (Pr 29:23)

The devil can be very sneaky, and has to be sneaky to trap the devoted God-follower. Let's keep our eyes open to his schemes and choose carefully with discernment and prayer whom we will follow. Let's also be diligent to keep watch over our own attitudes and heart as we live our own lives of influence. Satan likes nothing better than when God's faithful servants become so full of themselves, in their own prideful righteousness and wisdom, that they have no room for Jesus.

Thoughts on Leadership

In getting warmed up this morning for my long-term writing project, I had some thoughts about leadership that seemed to warrant writing down for consideration. My Masters degree is in Educational Leadership, as opposed to Educational Administration, the name given to the degree that many of my colleagues have. It might be an interesting search to discover any differences in the coursework required at various institutions.

As an educational leader, we often discussed the differences between “administrator” and “leader.” Certainly administrative gifts are necessary for effective leadership, and leadership gifts vital for successful administration. The difference is the focus of the mind. An administrator is focused on the administration of duties and tasks, the management of responsibilities toward a given goal. A leader is focused on the achievement of group goals, the movement of a group of people in a shared direction.

I can liken it also to my change of roles between Assistant Principal and Principal. After being promoted, I spoke to my previous Principal, a mentor and dear friend. We laughed at how my desk went from orderly to order-less! I had moved from completing the “to do’s” she gave to me, to creating the “to do” list. At some level, this is illustrative of the differences in administrator and leader. An administrator is attentive to checking items off a given list, while a leader is intent upon defining shared purposes, goals, and plans to be accomplished jointly by her and others. A true leader has great vision and investment in the development of collective mission. An administrator tends to follow a given vision and plan. Both roles are necessary to the success of any organized body.

We all serve in both roles in different areas and seasons of life. It is said that everyone always reports to someone else. So in that way, we are all administrators at some level. But according to God’s timing and plan, we may be granted the privilege to be persons of greater influence, stepping beyond task-completion to group-development. It is when we shift our focus, even for a moment, from simple tasks to significant touches in the lives of others that we move from administrative thinking to leadership perception.

We have the opportunity and responsibility to be both administrators and leaders in the body of Christ as called by God. As administrators of God’s goals, we follow His vision, choose to be invested in His objectives and join Him in His activities. As leaders, we influence others to do the same. Leadership is about influence. A wise person once said, “If you think you are a leader, look behind you to see if anyone is following.” If there is, we should look back at our pathway and ensure we are leading her in the right direction.