Last week I was in Dayton, OH, presenting training at a two-day Multipliers Network event. Greg Ponchot, a colleague from Indianapolis, made a short presentation introducing the PCI Semi-Formal 360, an assessment tool he is developing within his PhD dissertation. This tool is an adaptation from the work of Zenger and Folkman. Sixteen competencies are measured with the use of directed feedback from a dozen or so people who live and/or work with the person being assessed. It’s a fascinating tool that I plan to investigate further for use in church vitality assessment applications.
One statement that Greg made really grabbed my attention. He said that, when we submit ourselves to feedback about ourselves, that we look at our intentions while others look at our behaviors. In other words, I regard or measure myself by what I intended while others regard or measure me by what I actually did in terms of my actions.
This concept was an eye-opener for me and gave me pause to consider whether or not the way I perceive myself is skewed and whether or not the way others perceive me is fair – after all, my intentions are good, righteous, sanctified, even if my behaviors or actions don’t reflect that. God does judge us by what we meant or intended – right?
It occurs to me that we intend to be faithful to the Great Commission, but our actions individually and corporate are often not in sync with that intention. Is it okay that we meant well even though we didn’t follow through? Is God satisfied with our good intentions or is He holding us to the higher standard of actions and behaviors?
There is an expression that I have heard as long as I can remember. It goes like this:
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.
I can’t find that expression in the Bible, but the point, particularly in the context of this post, is well taken. Perhaps we need to shift from intending to act with meaning to meaningful action. I know I feel the challenge that Greg’s comment provokes.
