JANUARY 21 • TRUE LEADERSHIP
Dependability
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth. 2 Timothy 2:15
Who comes to mind when you say the word, dependable? Who is it that you feel like you can call in any situation? I have a son (actually son-in-law, but I always drop the in-law part) who lives 90 minutes away from me and works full time plus, but I believe he would move heaven and earth to help me if I had a need. Who is that person for you?
Who sees you as dependable? How do people see you at work? At home? At church? Do you arrive on time? Or even early? Do you have your work done as promised? Do you get things done quickly so you can help others and be a witness for good? Do you help others who are struggling? Do your leaders rely on you naturally? Do others rely on you? Are you productive? Or just getting by? Are you trustworthy? Is your yes, yes, and your no, no? Are you dependable and reliable?
When I was a young man of 18, I promised a friend I would pick him up after work the next day and take him home. The next day, I got an opportunity to play tennis with another friend and forgot totally about the promise I made to pick up the other friend (yes, I am ADD). When I remembered I rushed to pickup the friend (before cell phones). He was gone already. That was the beginning of the end of our relationship — because of my undependability. Should he have forgiven me? He may have. But dependability is something that goes deep and can be perceived by others. Trust is a major element in dependability. Interestingly enough, I was extremely reliable before that incident, and after that I fell into some serious unreliability. The size of the error wasn’t the issue — for he who is faithful in a very little thing is also faithful in much (Luke 16:10).
I made a lot of promises to my children growing up that I did not keep (spend time with them — sorry guys). I am sure I damaged my reputation with them and trust was broken. Instead of failing at dependability, choose your words carefully, let your yes be yes and your no be no. Think before you make a promise, and then do what you say you will do. There is nothing so small that it’s okay to disregard because it’s your dependability that is at stake. God keeps His promises and so should we! Schedule everything! Build a system for dependability.
Pray: Lord help me to not speak quickly, but to think before I speak and help me be reliable and always keep my promises!
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