The Heart of the Matter: Examining the Hearts of Our Potential Leaders

 

American biographer and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin*, through her extensive study of leadership, found that there were common traits and behavioral patterns that existed among distinctively different leaders, among those traits being "humility, empathy, resilience, courage; the ability to replenish energy, listen to diverse opinions, control negative impulses, connect with all manner of people, communicate through stories, and keep one's word."

As I read through these traits, there is a word that resonates within me--and it's not found within this list but within each trait: LOVE.

In Matthew 22:37-40, NASB, when Jesus is asked which commandment of the Law is the greatest, Jesus replied with two: "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ Upon these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”

 
LOVE is the foundation that, when firmly planted and allowed to grow, blossoms into other areas such as humility, empathy, resilience, and communication, so if I am Christian and a believer of these commandments, and I am looking for a leader whom I believe will embody many, if not all, of the above traits, then I am also looking into how this person embodies LOVE.

“A good head and a good heart are always a formidable combination.” ~Nelson Mandela 

Knowing a potential leader's policies and what they plan to DO to help the populace is vitally important, but let's be real--even the devil has a plan. What about the heart? Where does the love lie? We all know of at least one person who had great plans but a love of self... or of nothing at all. What if we stripped away the layers of plans and facts and stats and promises and examined a potential leader's heart and what that heart is and how that heart is used within that person? What would it mean to strip away the politics of politics and discern through the lens of a person's heart?

“If you find it in your heart to care for somebody else, you will have succeeded.” ~Maya Angelou 

Yes, we might take the route of thinking we understand a person’s heart only to be misled. Anyone who has ever been in a soured relationship can bestow us with stories to illustrate this. However, what does it say of you if you do not take the time to know how a human operates before determining if that human should have any form of control of your livelihood? Some might argue that we’re in the predicament we are in tonight because we didn’t do enough investigation, we didn’t do enough of understanding our own hearts and correcting our wrongs before clinging to a potential leader merely for self-interests or beliefs and values and attitudes that demoralize, subjugate, and erase others’ interests. Most of us need to strip layers off ourselves so that we can reveal our own T-truth before we examine our potential leader’s heart. By examining someone’s heart, we can find what s/he loves, and in the end, that will allow us to at least begin to determine if that person can be an effective leader for us.

In Galatians 5, which is part of a letter written by the Apostle Paul to the Galatians, we are provided a set of attributes that in many ways echoes the traits that Goodwin extrapolated from her research. This set is known as the fruit of the Spirit. Before we get to this set, however, we are told by Paul that we are “called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another” (Gal. 5:13-15, NASB).

We are reconnected with the second part of The Great Commandment, to love our neighbor as we would want to be loved. Therefore, one way to examine a potential leader’s heart is through how they love their neighbors. Keep in mind “neighbors” does not mean people who only look like you and think like you. It means ALL people. Make a list of all the potential “types” of people who exist in the world. On top of that list, write your potential leader’s name. Place a check next to each type of people whom your potential leader has shown love for and to. Write concrete, factual evidence to support that check, too.

Remember, to love others as you want to be loved, you are walking “by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the desire of the flesh is against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, in order to keep you from doing whatever you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: sexual immorality, impurity, indecent behavior, idolatry, witchcraft, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:16-25, NASB).

When we are walking by the Spirit and loving others as we want to be loved, we are not dueling with desires of the flesh. Yes, we’re human, and we all fall, but there is a difference between falling and getting back up and falling and rolling and just having a good ol’ time in the fleshy muck. When we are doing that Spirit walk and loving on others, we are also keeping ourselves away from deeds of the flesh. For that same potential leader (P.L.), list the deeds and research your P.L. Has s/he committed any of these deeds? More than one? More than once? Was there an askance of forgiveness and work toward overcoming the misdeed(s)? How can we open our hearts and lives for another to rule over if their actions will not permit them to inherit the kingdom of God?

When we walk by the Spirit, we obtain the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let’s follow the Spirit as well. Let’s not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another” (Gal. 5:22-26, NASB).

The heart of a person who practices love of neighbor and who walks by the Spirit embodies these fruits. We can document moments in which each fruit has been shown in that person’s “walk.” Examine your potential leader for their fruit. When have they shown love and joy? When have they practiced patience? When have they been gentle, kind? When have they practiced self-control? On the other side, have you seen your P.L. being boastful? Do they challenge others as if they are kids on a playground instead of adults making life-changing decisions for millions of people? Do they envy others to the point of being ineffective as a potential leader?

As a Christian, as a Black Christian, as a Black female Christian, as a bisexual Black female Christian, these things matter to the point of life or death. I want, with my whole heart, to be safe and to feel safe, to feel as if the country I live in counts me as one of its citizens and looks out for my best interests and the interests of all who are like me--and all who are not like me because our country’s leaders are loving us all as they would want to be loved.

Politics matter in politics.

But the heart... the love… trumps it for me.

*Doris Kearns Goodwin, "6 Essential Traits a President Needs." History.com. Oct. 24, 2018. Updated Jan. 31, 2019. https://www.history.com/topics/doris-kearns-goodwin-on-presidential-leadership.