Episode Transcript
[00:00:03] Speaker A: Welcome to the leaders notebook with Dr. Mark Rutland. Dr. Rutland is a world renowned leadership expert. He is a New York Times best selling author and he has served as the president of two universities. The Leaders Notebook is brought to you by Global Servants. For more information about Global Servants, please Visit our website, globalservants.org Here is your host, Dr. Mark Rutland.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Sir Francis Drake, the great Mariner, said this diligence in employment of less consequence is the most successful introduction into greater enterprise.
Hello, I'm Mark Rutland. Welcome to the Leaders Notebook. I'm in the middle of a series based on my book, Character Matters.
I'm teaching today on the virtue of diligence. It's one of the most disregarded and misunderstood of all the classical virtues. And, and I hope you enjoy this teaching. I want you to have the whole series.
Of course. We archive these podcasts so if you missed one, you can go back and get them or listen to them all. And I hope you'll also tune in every week for the series as we go through each one of these virtues which are the building blocks of character and the transformational catalytic agent in making a culture rise above its own inclination toward depravity and weakness.
At the end of this broadcast, there will be an announcer who will tell you how you can also get the book. I want you to have this book. It's been a huge seller for us over several years now. And the book is called Character 9 essential traits you need to succeed. I want you to have the book and I want you to have it for contribution only.
For many years now. Since 1986, one of the principal ways that I invest in the kingdom of God has been through our girls homes in Southeast Asia and in West Africa. The House of Grace.
My wife and I began House of Grace in 1986 in Thailand, Chiang Rai, Thailand.
And we have seen it grow. It's become a wonderful ministry. We have 14 buildings on two campuses.
We have several buildings in West Africa. Girls there as well. It's a newer one that our son started.
All of my speaking engagements, all love offerings, honoraria, all book sales, every penny worldwide sales, hundreds of thousands of copies of books we've sold. All of it goes to support House of Grace.
I hope that you will make a contribution, make it as generous as you can, but I'm gonna send you the book regardless of the amount of the contribution. So I hope at the end you'll listen to the announcer, that you'll go online, make a contribution, invest in the lives and futures of these young girls. Our motto for all these years has been. We are saving little girls for big destinies and we want you to get in on it with us and get this book, Character Matters.
Now, today we're going to be talking about diligence.
One of the great examples of diligence in American history was George Washington Carver. He was an African American baby born in the waning days of the Civil War.
He was of poor health.
He was orphaned when his father died, and then his mother was kidnapped by slave stealers.
The frail lad's earliest years were spent in poor physical health, but he was mentally and spiritually strong.
There was no school for African Americans in Diamond Grove, Missouri, where he was born.
And when freedom came, he was turned out of the plantation on which he was born.
But he taught himself to read.
Hours spent at his own initiative, mastering spelling, grammar, syntax, reaped a great reward. By age 10, George Carver was moving from town to town, seeking out anyone who who would feed his ravenous appetite for knowledge.
He took job after job with anybody that would give him books or teach him anything.
At the age of 16, George Carver became the first African American admitted to Iowa A and M. That's now Iowa State University, but at that time it was Iowa Agricultural and Mechanical.
His early education was the fruit of diligent self application.
Excellent marks, a winsome personality and a commitment to servant leadership, all earmarks of his sterling character made him an academic and social success at that college, the first and at that time only African American student.
After graduating from that school, he became the first African American admitted to the Iowa A and M faculty.
Carver subsequently left Iowa to join Booker T. Washington at Tuskegee Institute, where he found international fame for his work in agricultural research.
It was not his scholarship alone, however, that endeared him to his students, his colleagues, and made him world famous.
Carver's unflagging commitment to excellence, to diligently see the job finished and finished right, that was the foundation upon which he built an absolute life of worth and respect and dignity. Born a slave and an orphan, George Washington Carver proved that character can lift a life above its beginnings. He was a man of diligence who would not be defeated by a world full of obstacles.
This is a perverse society in which we live that lauds its occasional genius and scorns the diligent.
How strange that we so honor the gifted who are what they are without any effort or sacrifice what honor is due them. That's like praising someone because they have blue eyes.
Western civilization has placed a premium on talent while quaint relics like diligence gather dust in the moral flea markets of our age.
In so doing, we cultivate characterlessness. We actually create it in our own national character.
The modern American sees work as the curse of the masses.
The faithful, diligent journeyman is mocked as an unimaginative peon, unworthy to be in the same room with the fey royalty of creative genius, even if that genius is corrupt, base, unproductive and undisciplined.
The hard working and the disciplined often go unrewarded while temperamental, characterless geniuses, so called geniuses, are elevated.
American industry is rapidly gaining a reputation for creative ideas that will not work and a lazy, undisciplined workforce that cannot produce.
American industry is confused by its own mythology.
We have been taught that despite slipshod methods, disregard for diligence and short run quick fix tactics, American ingenuity will just somehow make it all come together at the last minute.
That is magical for thinking and it is proving to disrupt American industry business and destroy the American character.
Diligence is first of all, steady application.
Steady application may not necessarily elevate the peaks of a super performer, but it can put a foundation under him to minimize the depths of his valleys. In other words, anyone is going to have the occasional mountaintop.
The point of diligence is to level out the valleys so it never goes as deep or as dark as it might have been.
Furthermore, it enables the steady Freddy to reach his potential.
The diligent man is a steady performer and the steady performer is a finisher.
One of the most frequent weaknesses among the immature is a will o' the wisp. Light heartedness about obligations.
For example, it is not uncommon for an otherwise serious Christian to testify glowingly. I was supposed to go to work tonight, but I just felt the Holy Ghost telling me to be here at Bible study, so I called in sick.
That direction did not come from the Holy Ghost. Don't blame your irresponsibility on God.
The deceitful heart, absent character, would rather enjoy the fellowship at a Bible study than then bag the groceries that you get paid to bag.
Well meaning zealots may say I'm called to missions. I know I'm supposed to give two weeks notice and I also owe some money.
My dad co signed on my car. But God is telling me to go into the mission field today.
No he's not.
God is calling all of us to be diligent, faithful finishers if we cannot be trusted to pay our debts. And how can he trust us to save Africa for good or Ill we always impact with our own character those things committed to us as we are engraved with the image of Christ. All those areas in which we have stewardship must also bear the stamp of his character.
Second, diligence is immediate obedience.
Diligence not only finishes the job, but it does so without unnecessary delay. Paul called it in two Timothy chapter four and verse two. Paul called it being instant.
It is a true character shaping virtue not just to do it, but do it now.
Procrastination is not merely an inborn personality weakness. Procrastination is a sin and a sign of spiritual backsliding. The diligent have disciplined themselves to hear from authority, both spiritual authority and natural authority, and obey. And obey now.
Hence, when God speaks, the diligent are the very ones who hear from God and obey. Now, children must be taught that if they cannot obey their parents, whom they can see, they will never learn to obey God, whom they cannot see.
Now, the third level of diligence is exactitude.
Let me give you an example of what I'm talking about. Ezra, chapter 7, verse 23 says, whoever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be diligently.
Or the American Standard Version translates it exactly. Now I like that. Let it be exactly done for the house of the God of heaven. For why should there be wrath against the realm of the king and his sons? In other words, do it now and do it exactly as instructed, and do it until it's finished.
America's romance with creative individualism has often worked to a disadvantage in this regard. The free thinking lone wolf is often celebrated, while the obedient and the diligent are mocked.
Fourth, diligence is carefulness.
To be diligent also means to use care.
For example, the young stock clerk is told, stack these five boxes. He may do it quickly and complete the task, yet fail utterly by breaking everything that's in the boxes.
In this sense, diligence has to do with the attitude as well as the action.
We must do every job as unto the Lord. I must take my job as importantly as I can. It has to be as important to me as it is to my employer, or I sin against him.
Throughout the time that I was in college, my wife and I worked hard to hold body and soul together. We graduated from undergraduate school, a master's degree and a doctorate with no student debt. Not one penny.
In fact. I'm not even sure in those days if they made student loans. But I didn't know about them, and I'm glad I didn't. We worked both of us worked two or three jobs at a time and went to school full time just to pay it off.
At one job I had in a grocery store, There were also two other guys who worked there.
One was a hotshot local basketball star. His coach had arranged for him to get the job there in order to pick up some spending money.
This guy thought the job was a lark, so he played at the job.
He didn't really work at it. He had no diligence whatsoever. The other fellow, Tom was his name was mildly retarded. The basketball player constantly made Tom the butt of every joke.
But I learned much by watching that intellectually impaired boy bag groceries.
Whether there was one person or 50 persons in line, he never altered his course. He would carefully place one can at a time in the sack, not allowing pressure to force him into error. He never hurried. He never got flustered. He never got upset. He never tried to move faster than he could do the job efficiently.
The basketball player was 6 foot 9, a college athlete, and marvelously coordinated. If he wanted to, he could have bagged groceries like a whirlwind with one hand. He could have bagged groceries faster than poor Tom could, with both hands at top speed.
But the athlete would start clowning around or be in the back taking a break when he was supposed to be bagging groceries. Worse still, he was rude. He was rude to the boss, he was rude to customers.
I have seldom been so delighted as I was to stand by and watch the manager fire that basketball player in front of all of us. He fired him publicly, including Tom.
I will never forget that manager pointing his finger at that boy of limited intellect and telling the basketball star, you see this kid? You don't think much of him, do you? He is worth his weight in gold, and you're not worth a dime and you're fired.
I loved that scene, and I still cherish the memory of it.
Well, then, what is diligence? First, let's say what diligence is not.
Diligence is not driven, anxiety ridden, burdened perfectionism.
The neurotic lifestyle finally becomes temporary and counterproductive. The driven, perfectionist workaholic, always unable to reach his own unattainable standards, is obsessed, but not controlled. He loses his awareness of reality and of the people around him. His wife, his children. The real circumstance of his own health and limitations are ignored.
He is neither prudent nor cautious. He believes himself to be diligent about his work. But in reality, he's not diligent.
He just has his nose buried in his own obsession.
Do not confuse drivenness with diligence.
Diligence is productive and enduring. Let me give you four keys.
The virtue of diligence has these four faces. Diligence means constancy.
Temporary obedience is disobedience.
Diligence is instant delayed obedience is disobedience. Diligence is exactitude. Partial obedience is disobedience and diligence is observant care.
Careless obedience is disobedience.
Diligence is the responsible, orderly, steady application of God's power through me toward whatever responsibility God has put into my life.
Diligence is one of the key virtues that determines a life of success or failure.
I'm so glad that you joined me today. Stay tuned. Now the announcer has an important announcement for you. Until we meet again, I'm Mark Rutland, and this has been the Leader's Notebook.
[00:17:15] Speaker C: Wow. Another great episode of the Leader's Notebook. Hello, I'm Ronnie Brannan, the Chief of Staff at Global servants, and as Dr. Rutland said, we want to send you your copy of his book Character Matters. You can receive your copy by contributing any amount to Global Servants through our Secure Give app on our website. Go to globalservants.org, click the Donate button and then click Give Online and then leave your contribution under the Podcast Gift tab. Next, please click Add a Message and include your name, email address, and the mailing address where you would like your book delivered. As soon as your donation is processed, we'll send you an email confirming the delivery address and we'll get your book in the mail to you by the next business day. Again, thank you for subscribing to the Leader's Notebook with Dr. Mark Rutland and helping make a difference for those around the world and helping save little girls for big destinies.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: You've been listening to the Leader's Notebook with Dr. Mark Rutland. Be sure to subscribe, rate and review today's podcast. You can follow Dr. Rutland on Twitter @Dr. MarkRutland or visit his website, Dr. MarkRutland.com join us next week for another episode of the Leader's Notebook.
