ESSENCE: The last of the four first principles embedded in Integriosity^® is Humility, and it is the key to understanding the “HOW” of the other three “first things”, including Righteousness.  Humility in Righteousness flows from knowing who we are in relation to God’s creation and His plan.  In fact, living sacrificially–a key to Righteousness–is not possible without Humility.  In order to lead an organization in a way that sacrificially stewards creation and benefits the common good, a leader must have an understanding of the leader’s role and the role of the organization in the MUCH BIGGER picture of God’s creation and His plan–the Creation and Restoration book-ends of the BIGGER Four-Part Gospel.  Such an understanding permits leadership in service to a bigger WHY of serving others.  It permits leading an organization to pursue “business a better way”.

We have been exploring the implications for work and business of several first principles embedded in Integriosity^®, including Righteousness (posts #040-#044), and in our last post we introduced the fourth of the first principles embedded in Integriosity–Humility.  We believe the two are linked, with Humility being a “HOW” of Righteousness.  Humility in Righteousness flows from knowing who we are in relation to God’s creation and His plan.

Humility – A “How” of Righteousness

In wrapping up our exploration of Righteousness in post #044, we asserted that faithfully “doing right” is more than “doing good”–it means “doing right” by God, and that means living generously through loving others and stewarding creation.   And we suggested that living generously is living sacrificially–choosing to give something up or to forego a benefit because it benefits the common good–because it is faithfully “doing right”.  Living sacrificially in that way–a key to Righteousness–is not possible without Humility.

Humility is a “HOW” of Righteousness because faithfully “doing right” requires knowing who we are in relation to God’s creation and His plan.  In order to lead an organization in a way that sacrificially stewards creation and benefits the common good, a leader must have an understanding of the leader’s role and the role of the organization in the MUCH BIGGER picture of God’s creation and His plan–the Creation and Restoration book-ends of the BIGGER Four-Part Gospel.

• The leader must understand the Creation Mandate and its command of stewardship.
• The leader must recognize that God owns the organization.
• The leader must embrace the commandment to “love your neighbor” and understand its relevance to an organization.

Only that understanding will convict the leader of the call to submit their authority and the purpose of the organization to Biblical principles, values and priorities.  In his book, To Change the World, James Hunter writes:

The reason that leadership is sacrificial and selfless is because its practice is an expression of “power under submission.”  The gifts, resources, and influence one stewards are not one’s own to use as one wishes but rather they belong to God: they exist under his authority, and believers are held to account for how they steward them.

In his book Momentum: Pursuing God’s Blessings Through the Beatitudes, Colin Smith likens the Beatitudes to a series of rings on which you can swing from one to the next.

To move from one ring to the next, you must grasp each ring in order. The only way to get to the fifth ring of forgiveness, the sixth ring of purity, or the seventh ring of peace is by means of the rings that come before. You can’t start from the fifth, sixth, or seventh ring. They have to be reached, and the Beatitudes will show you how.

He goes so far as to say that the first Beatitude (“Blessed are the poor in spirit.” Matthew 5:3), which he equates with Humility, is the gateway to all the others:  “This is the gateway blessing that leads to all the others, and without this none of the other blessings can be reached.”  That means you can’t get to the fourth ring of Righteousness without first having Humility.  

We see another way in which Humility is a “HOW” of Righteousness in Matthew 6:1:

Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.

This warning hits on a central theme of Integriosity–WHY MATTERS!   It warns against practicing Righteousness “in order to be seen”.  As we have emphasized in numerous posts, faithfully “doing right” requires more than “doing the right thing”–it requires doing the right thing, in the right ways, and for the right reasons. Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons looks good and probably “does good”, but it is missing “business a better way”–it is missing God’s heart for our work.

SPOILER ALERT:  In the third step of Integriosity–RE-ALIGN–one of the five critical ingredients for execution is Intentional Leaders, and one of the necessary characteristics of an Intentional Leader is the willingness and ability to embrace serving people as the WHY of the organization.  An attitude of service requires Humility.

PERSONAL NOTE (from PM):  I first began focusing on, and praying for, humility in 2014.   In the summer of 2014, our family attended Camp-of-the-Woods in Speculator, NY (a Christian family resort)–it was our seventh summer at COTW.  One of the highlights of a summer week at COTW is the daily “chapel” talk by a distinguished speaker, who spends the week developing a message.  That year, the speaker was Colin Smith, and his topic was the Beatitudes.  Based upon his “momentum” imagery, Smith brilliantly dissected the Beatitudes and explained them as seven rings you swing on, from ring to ring.  Humility, Mourning and Meekness are the first three that give you the momentum to get to the leverage point of Righteousness, which then swings you to the “outcome” Beatitudes of Mercy, Purity and Peace (Smith said that the first seven are things that we pursue, but the eighth, “Persecution”, is not pursued but is something that can be expected if we pursue the first seven).

Copyright © 2021 Integrous LLC.  Integriosity is a registered Service Mark of Integrous LLC.