When we were children, our parents would press us up against the wall every few months and tells us to stand straight. They’d take a straight edge and a pencil and make a mark. Excitedly we would then turn around to have a look. We’d compare today’s mark to the last one and realize that we had grown a little—maybe just a fraction of an inch, but still. We could see progress. We can’t feel our physical growth on a daily basis. Only by looking back over time can we see it in comparison to where we were before.
Doctors measure growth in infants, toddlers and children. It’s an important part of their development. We measure weight, length or height and compare it to a chart of growth standards. If a child doesn’t develop at a normal pace, it might be indicative of an underlying medical program. A pattern of abnormal or slowed growth might indicate a nutritional problem, a mental issue or a genetic syndrome or condition. Then a child becomes a student and we start measuring their academic progress—how well they receive and pool knowledge, make connections between facts, form opinions, solve problems.
Somewhere along the way, we stop measuring our growth. Not only our physical growth, but all kinds of growth. Think about it. After you receive a high school diploma or college degree, we stop measuring educational growth. Your physical growth? Once an adolescent we stop monitoring height and weight. Even your parents quit the pencil marks on the wall after a few years. And we tend to only resume measuring ourselves or being measured by others when something is terribly wrong. If we’re morbidly obese, we start monitoring our weight. If we have cancer or heart disease, we start measuring our blood sugar, blood pressure, and other body functions. But unless something is grossly out of balance, measurement goes out the window.
We must measure to lead. Self-examination is integral to leadership. A leader who is not looking inward to see progress and pitfalls will not grow outwardly in decisions, relationships and vision. Scripture confirms this, instructing faith-centered leaders to measure themselves. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, “ Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” James 1:23-25 draws a line between what we know of ourselves and our actions: “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. But the one who looks into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, he will be blessed in his doing.”
In the Old Testament we are told that self-examination is means by which to tell if we are centered in faith or straying from it. Lamentations 3:40 cautions, “Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord!” Like the pencil marks on the wall, only by looking at where we were a few weeks, months, years ago, can we then see if we are growing, heading in the right direction, becoming more Christ-like leaders in our lives and workplaces.
What do we measure now? We know what to measure when it comes to physical health and growth. We can also easily measure our knowledge through educational degrees and tests. But what about our personal and spiritual growth? What about life and leadership shows, over time, that we are growing close to God and becoming more Christ-like? Here again Scripture provides an answer. It is in going to God that we can ascertain our spiritual growth. The Psalmist asks in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” We can ask God Himself through prayer, “Search me. Reveal to me areas where I am falling short of your standard. Show me facets of my life and leadership where I need to more fully follow You.”
There are marks of faithfulness. Just like there are pencil marks on the wall to show our physical growth as children, the Bible also tells us there are spiritual marks in our lives that show our faithfulness to God. Galatians 5:22-23 says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” If we see these facets of character evident in our lives and work, we can put a pencil mark on the wall of spiritual growth. These marks are easy to identify when we examine ourselves. “Was I kind today? Did I show love to others? Am I more patient this week than last? Have a been gentle and self-controlled with those I interact with? Have I promoted peace and goodness in my relationships?”
Likewise, we can see where our growth is off-track. Just before these verses in Galatians 5:19-21, the writer warns, “The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Here too, self examination can reveal whether we are growing away from Christ in our lives and leadership. “Was I faithful to my spouse? Am I jealous of my coworkers? Is my ambition selfish by putting my wants ahead of others? Have a sown discord in my family through my attitudes and actions?”
Begin measuring again. A practical step forward in leadership growth is to begin again to measure your personal growth, but from a spiritual standpoint. Scripture tells us as leaders to be sober minded (1 Peter 1:13). In advance of the spiritual ordinance of the Lord’s Supper, 1 Corinthians 11:28 says, “Let a person examine himself…”. On a consistent basis we should obey 1 Thessalonians 5:21: “But test everything; hold fast what is good.” And again in Romans we are told to grow in faith; “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect” (Romans 12:2). The pattern of measurement is to be regularly making and looking at those marks on the wall, and observing whether we see growth in faith, which leads to more effective and Christ-centered leadership.
As a leader, you’re not over a what, but a who. To lead is to influence others in a way that helps them grow personally, professionally and spiritually. Leadership is fundamentally about influencing people.