2 Chronicles 19:1-3
19:1 When Jehoshaphat king of Judah returned safely to his palace in Jerusalem, 2 Jehu the seer, the son of Hanani, went out to meet him and said to the king, "Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the LORD? Because of this, the wrath of the LORD is upon you. 3 There is, however, some good in you, for you have rid the land of the Asherah poles and have set your heart on seeking God."
Yeah, you messed up ... But there are good things about you! Jehoshaphat was a pretty good king, like his father, Asa. However even those of us who are "pretty good", sometimes Mess up ... Make bad judgments ... Don't get it right sometimes! (Are you listening?) Well, when you acquaint yourself with Jehoshaphat, you'll find that was indeed the case. I believe that when your heart is in the right place, even if there are moments of poor judgment, misplaced steps, and unchanneled energy, the purpose will match the plan in the end, in other words although you messed up, there's still good in you, and God can still use you to His glory! A critical factor in leadership is that as a leader you have to recognize the good and good intentions of people ... Your followers are followers for a reason: they have entrusted You to lead them because who you are (check out John Maxwell's 5 P's of leadership). It is a vital function of leadership to find and extract the good in others, even when they "mess up"! Someone has said "failure doesn't have to be final!" Many people in our organizations (church, business, Home) accomplish tasks and complete assignments that may fall below your standards, but that does not mean they (people, church members, children, etc) are sub-standard! The function of a leader among other things is that of a teacher. Teachers teach because they know what they are teaching is valuable, but they also know that some of life's most valuable lessons are gained when students try and fail, only to try again and succeed beyond measure! In Jehoshaphat’s case, he failed by joining forces with a wicked King, but God forgave him and he went on to truly demonstrate where his heart was, and in humility and bravery, cried out to the Lord and gave us perhaps the best example of how to deal with adversity ... "The battle is not yours, but God's" (2Chron. 20:15). Remember, God is The Best Leader ... Ever, and He saw beyond the faults and failures of Jehoshaphat and gave him another chance! Should we do any less?
