I don’t know if you’ve noticed but those in positions of authority have changed the conversation from legality to morality. The question no longer is, what is legal? But rather what is moral? This is a good thing. The problem however is that some talk about racism while disparaging a whole group of people at the same time. Others talk about the dangers of climate change while they fly all over the world in their private jets. When it comes to these people, the problem is that their words do not match their actions. And when your words and deeds do not match, no matter what position you hold people will not be inclined to follow you.

“What you are doing is not right.” – Nehemiah 5:8 NIV

Nehemiah was a Hebrew born in exile, he returned to Jerusalem with a vision to rebuild its walls, walls that had been burned and torn down some 140 years earlier. As he began his project, many of the people in Jerusalem joined him putting their lives, businesses, and duties temporarily to the side to become part of the project. Some of the people in the highest positions of authority however saw this as an opportunity for personal gain. They would make high interest loans to the workers so that they could buy food and pay their taxes knowing full well that they were unable to make their payments. They would then proceed to repossess their land, property, and would even take their children as slaves. So Nehemiah called a public assembly and said to them, “what you are doing is not right”. They subsequently stopped collecting on the loans and gave the people back everything they had taken from them.

For twelve years Nehemiah held the governor’s position, a position that granted him great privileges. For starters, the people had to pay taxes to Nehemiah and he had first option to purchase land. Nehemiah however never took advantage of those privileges, for him all that mattered was rebuilding the wall. So when he publicly called out the people in position of authority, they readily gave in to his demands to return everything. Not because of his positional authority, most of them held higher positions than Nehemiah. They gave in because of Nehemiah’s moral authority, which he gained through his personal sacrifices for the vision.

Moral authority is the credibility that is gained when a person’s words and actions consistently match. It is the relationship between what you expect from others and you expect from yourself. We have all been given or will be given a position of authority whether as a business or political leader, as a worker, volunteer, as parents or older siblings. But positional authority can only get you so far. It is the moral authority built over time that causes people to want to follow you.

Heavenly Father help me each day to be a person whose actions match their words. That others would always see that integrity in me, because it is the only way that I will really be able to influence them to follow me in my vision of leading others in a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Thank you for teaching me the importance of developing moral authority by making my actions match my words.