Ezekiel, Chapter 18, Verse 14-17
14 But, in turn, if he (a sinful man) begets a son
who sees all the sins his father commits, yet fears and does not imitate him— 15 a
son who does not eat on the mountains, or raise his eyes to the idols of the
house of Israel, or defile a neighbor’s wife; 16 who
does not oppress anyone, or exact a pledge, or commit robbery; who gives his
food to the hungry and clothes the naked;
17 who refrains from evildoing, accepts no interest
or usury, but keeps my ordinances and walks in my statutes—this one shall not
die for the sins of his father. He shall surely live!
It is easy and common for us to blame our character
defects on our parents. However, when
God adopts a person through the blood and work of the Holy Spirit a new person arises
and begins doing works of mercy and justice of His or Her heavenly father.
This is the beauty of Lent it gives us time to discern
our spiritual leadership. John Maxwell[1]
recommends increasing your leadership discernment by:
· Examining your past successes. What
has enabled you?
·
Assessing each person based on their particular situation. Are you
stereotyping? Are your treating people as things and not people? Are you
treating others as you wish to be treated?
·
Listening to your heart and your head-do the right thing.
·
Learning from wise leaders. Study and read the lives of other leaders.
I recommend we do a book study through this blog to
better ourselves in our character development. Many years ago I was interested
in doing a book study on a book entitled Character is Destiny[2] with
my business students. As luck would have it I retired from teaching
before I could develop the idea.
The premise of the book is based on 32 stories of
great leaders who are examples of 32 traits important to character. My plan is
simple: to read, discuss and study in a set pattern.
Weekly I will publish comments on each chapter on
which you the reader can comment.
Today is the second day of the Novena to St. Joseph
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