Page 21 - The Bible On Leadership

8 THE BIBLE ON LEADERSHIP

But leadership doesn’t always have to be on a grand scale or come
from the very top. John Boten, commercial systems manager of John
Deere, feels that every transaction, no matter how large or small, should
be conducted with integrity. When his company was undercharged by
a vendor, he acted like King David, not King Ahab. ‘‘There was no
question about it, we paid the vendor the amount that was due . . . it
was taught to me early in my career that I have to have integrity in
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everything I do.’’ This one transaction was not going to ‘‘make or
break’’ the company. Boten elected to follow his conscience and the
words of Luke 16:10: ‘‘Whoever is dishonest with little will be dishon-
est with much.’’

INTEGRITY DESPITE TEMPTATION
AND ADVERSITY

The story of Zacchaeus shows us that people who have lost their integ-
rity can find it again. Zacchaeus was a tax collector for the Roman
government, one of the least popular professions in ancient Israel. But
he was not beyond rehabilitation. Because he was a short man, he
climbed a tree so he could more clearly see and hear this mysterious
prophet, Jesus. Jesus’ response was to invite himself to the home of this
social outcast:

‘‘Zacchaeus, come down immediately, for I must stay at your house
today’’ . . . All the people saw this and began to mutter, ‘‘He has gone
to be the guest of a sinner.’’ But Zacchaeus stood up and said . . .‘‘Look
Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I
have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay him back four times the
amount.’’ (Luke 19:1–8)

That’s a pretty big turnaround for a tax collector. Even Samuel, Isra-
el’s high priest, promised to give back only what he had taken, not four
times what he had taken!
Sometimes the integrity of those who have sinned outshines that of