Values-Based Decisions

Today's devotional is from The Leadership Walk

"But Ruth replied, 'Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me'" - Ruth 1:16-17.

Naomi and Ruth were widows and Naomi was in a foreign land. Naomi decided to return home to Israel, and urged Ruth to stay behind so that she could remarry, which made sense. Ruth refused to stay behind, but decided to relocate to a new land with her mother-in-law. This was a values-based decision, for it did not seem to be in Ruth's best interests to go. However, she stayed true to what was most important to her and went because she loved Naomi and had decided she was going to stay loyal, even though it looked like it was going to cost her something.

God blessed Ruth when she found a husband in her new land, and that couple became the grandparents of King David. Like Ruth, leaders must also identify their values and then make decisions consistent with those values and not just decisions that are expedient or self-serving.

LEADERSHIP STEP: Throughout the year, I have encouraged you to identify, clarify, and review your values to ensure that you are acting on them. Have you taken the time to spell them out? Have you then put them in some order of priority? This may seem like a cumbersome exercise because it is new to you. Your Step today is to read the article Governing Values on my website and follow the steps to write out your values.