Private Disciplines Precede Public Effectiveness

Investing in private disciplines is a principle of the Kingdom of God, not a principle of this world. The world values charisma, personality and image more than integrity and character. There is a great pressure on us as leaders to yield to the world's pressure and to focus on enhancing the outward, rather than the inward (who we are). The pressure is to base our practices on developing our image, rather than investing in fundamental change through private disciplines. Jesus accused the Pharisees of falling into this trap:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." (Matthew 23:25-26)

The "What Matters Most?" section highlights the principle that developing who we are is vital to leaving the legacy that we deeply desire. The private disciplines enable us to change and become the person we desire to be. The busyness of life and ministry can sometimes cause us to lose perspective and focus on immediate demands and needs. Often this leads to the neglect of our private disciplines, like an athlete that enters so many races that he never has enough time to train. If we want to become an effective leader like Jesus, we must follow his example and continually invest in private disciplines.

It is through private disciplines that we increase our personal and leadership capacity and become more effective. In Module 1.1 we defined learning as "expanding our capacity in order to get the results that we deeply desire: to advance the Kingdom of God." Effective leaders are learners who make time for private disciplines. Learning does not just happen to us: we reap what we sow the first learning principle). If we sow into private disciplines, we will reap a harvest of learning, change and public effectiveness.

Private disciplines are the key to personal development and change, and yet many leaders do not make time for these investments. We rightly desire the achievements but often neglect the unseen, private disciplines. It is these disciplines that form us so that we are able to perform at a high level of effectiveness and influence.