Personal responsibility is an idea that seems to have been forgotten in our society today. If you listen carefully, you will quite often hear people offer excuses or point fingers at others when something goes wrong in their lives. Even when it is clear to everyone else around them, they cannot seem to make the connection between their decisions and their circumstances. Worse than this, in my opinion, is the way in which many leaders handle wisdom when it is offered to them.
Wisdom Ignored
In my last couple of posts, I have been discussing the problems that surface when someone seeks wisdom from godly counselors and then ignores or dismisses the wisdom they are given. We have all seen this happen and have likely been guilty of it ourselves at one point or another in our lives.
For various reasons, we seek out wisdom from godly advisors, but we do not take it and apply it as they prescribe. Maybe we were actually seeking someone to agree with us or to confirm our own wisdom. Maybe the wisdom offered requires more work or discomfort than we are willing to experience. There are many more reasons this could happen.
Various Problems
Regardless of the reasons, ignoring wisdom causes problems. In my first post on this subject, I showed how ignoring wisdom can lead to serious trouble for the one doing the ignoring. The next post described how godly advisors can (and should) stop offering advice to someone who repeatedly ignores it. In today’s post, we will look at how this issue affects those who are following the repeat offender.
Higher Standards
First, lets remind ourselves that as Christian business owners and leaders, we are held to a higher standard. The Bible is clear about this and we have spent a lot of time in this blog discussing this fact. We cannot allow ourselves to forget that we are not only responsible for ourselves. We are not the only ones facing the consequences of our decisions.
We are also responsible for those who work for us and with us. We are responsible for their families as well. We have responsibility for our vendors as well as our customers. Everyone with whom we come into contact is relying on us to make wise decisions in one way or another. Whether we like this or not, this is the path we have chosen.
As a result, when we run into a situation that requires us to seek wisdom from godly advisors, it is likely a decision that carries significant consequences. It is likely a decision that will affect all of those we mentioned above. If we decide to ignore the wisdom we receive for whatever reasons, then we are sentencing others to our same consequences. We are taking them with us!
What Does Scripture Say?
Let’s look at what the Bible has to say about this…
The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life, turning a man from the snares of death.
– Proverbs 13:14
He who heeds discipline shows the way to life, but whoever ignores correction leads others astray.
– Proverbs 10:17
Leading Others Astray
Here you see that when we ignore the teaching of the wise, not only are we headed toward the snares of death, but we are also leading others to that fate as well. These are people that have trusted us to lead them. When we ignore the wisdom in front of us and choose our own path, we take them with us to face the consequences!
Even if we are okay with our own personal consequences of ignoring wisdom, we cannot allow others to be led astray as a result. Either we need to step down from our position of leadership or we need to step up to the responsibilities that come with it!
Pray For Clarity
I would encourage you to pray (as I will) that God would reveal to you situations where you ignored wisdom offered. Pray that He will make those situations clear to you and show you how to avoid them in the future. Pray for Him to give you wisdom, along with discernment to see it in others. Pray for the humility necessary to accept wisdom from others the next time you ask for it.
Have you witnessed disastrous results for those following one ignoring wisdom?
Do you accept the responsibility for leading others according to godly wisdom?
How do you maintain the humility needed to remain open to wisdom offered?
What Would You Invest to Have 50 Biblical Mentors?
Imagine what it would cost to sit down to lunch with more than 50 different leaders to glean their wisdom for life.
- What would it cost you to travel to more than 50 locations?
- How much would you pay for hotels and food?
- What scheduling headaches would you encounter trying to make it happen?
Your costs would easily run into the thousands of dollars if you could pull it off at all. But 17BPS has done it for you.
Now you can have all this wisdom delivered when it is convenient for you for only a fraction of the cost.
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