By Very Rev. Nathaniel Garang Aduotdiit
“The righteous man walks in his integrity; His children are blessed after him.”
Little do leaders often know that it’s not always about them only, but the generation they are called to stand for. Human life is often compared to a seed. Once properly planted, it has the ability to spread far and wide. Our God similarly, is generational. When He entrusts a man with His purpose, He expects this purpose to live beyond the life span of the person He calls. He introduces Himself to Moses as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is a God whose purpose and plan for a person extends over generations.
There was a king called Hezekiah who had a very interesting character. For him it mattered nothing the issues of his posterity, the generation coming after him if only all is well with him!! After Hezekiah made a very terrible mistake of touring his palace with his enemies, exposing his kingdom, the prophet Isaiah wasn’t amused at the king’s actions, He told him, “Behold, the days are coming when all that is in your house, and what your fathers have accumulated until this day, shall be carried to Babylon; nothing shall be left,’ says the Lord.” (II Kings 20:17)
I would have imagined that the king would have some bit of remorse for such a prophecy on him and his empire. However, you know what, we are told, So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “Will there not be peace and truth at least in my days?” (II Kings 20:19) NKJV.
So, it Should really border leaders if there is no succession or smooth transition after their leadership tenure. If you helped to destroy the very things you built as a leader in your tenure. Was that a successful Leadership?
However, the secret of preserving one’s posterity is integrity. Leaders don’t only handover nothing to the next generation, but leaders transfer legacies, they transfer philosophy of service, they transfer mindset, ideologies, work ethics, etc. The sum total of all the above can be said to be a leader with Integrity or a leader of corruption. Leaders of integrity leave behind a system that continues to build and nurse society for a long time after them.
However, the corrupt leaders similarly leave behind limping systems that continue ravaging society for some time, until another man comes with a very different philosophy, ideologies and mindset apart from the one he left.
This is why King Solomon says, in (Pro 11:1) says, “By the blessing of the upright, the city is exalted, but it is overthrown by the mouth of the wicked.”
So, remember, “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.” (Proverbs 28:6) NKJV
God bless you.
Very Rev. Nathaniel Garang Aduotdiit opinion writer on biblical reality.