CREDIBILITY

From My Perspective - - -

One of the major issues before the nation and world is (a) who/what can you believe, and (b) who/what can you trust! In our political climate, there are many voices that can be heard. Across the landscape of our nation, there are politicians and their surrogates speaking, accusing, promising, and wanting votes from anyone and everyone. With all of the verbiage and analysis one can hear, how much of it is credible? Credibility carries with it the idea of what is plausible; what is reliable; who represents integrity; who is more or most believable. Is that what we are hearing?

In June 2012, Forbes Magazine published a column by Ty Kilsel entitled: “Who Do You Trust?” The column referenced, “A 2009 international study originally posted on the Harvard Business Review and titled, ‘Managing Talent In Troubled Times’, suggested ‘the majority of people say they trust a stranger more than they trust their boss.’ James Kouzes and Barry Posner in their book, ‘The Truth About Leadership: The No-Fads, Heart-of-the-Matter Facts You Need To Know, suggest that trustworthiness and credibility are foundational to leadership. If you were afraid that transparency would be used as a club, would you willingly provide it to your boss?”

The Forbes Column goes on to state, “According to Posner and Kouzes, If people don’t trust you, they won’t believe what you say. You might be interested to know they also argue high-trust organizations tend to outperform low-trust organizations by 286 percent. What’s more, a Price-Waterhouse-Coopers study of corporate innovation among the Financial Times 100, showed that the number one differentiating factor between the top innovators and the bottom innovators was trust. That means if people don’t trust you, your organization (or team) is likely to under-perform and be slow to innovate.” Part of their overall thesis and suggestion is, “Politics, religion, businesses and even teams and work groups thrive in an environment of trust – and fail when trust doesn’t exist.”

In the current day, as the United Nations meets, one voice that is heard above all others is “Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who said Tuesday that a new world order needs to emerge, away from years of what he called American bullying and domination.” He has also allowed that Israel is a false and fake government and needs to be eliminated. He spoke of the very restrictive view regarding homosexuality in Islam and Iran. Does he have credibility or is this merely political swagger on the world’s stage? Does he telegraph his intent for the world as he perceives it or is it just saber-rattling rhetoric? When the United States President speaks and indicates this nation will stand with Israel without restriction, does the world come to attention and listen and believe it? Is he viewed as being credible or as one who is good in making speeches? Is there any voice being raised in terms of what is morally right? Does our nation no longer have the credibility when it comes to voicing “Christian” values? Has the world become convinced that the United States is no longer a "Christian" nation?

What will it take for one to have credibility? What will it take for our nation to regain credibility and to have a voice that others will want to hear and to which they will respond? A place for the nation to give heed is Proverbs 14:34, “Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people.” The nation needs to get right with God before it can do things that will have credibility as it tries to do what’s right in the world. In terms of what we say, in Matthew 5:37 Jesus instructs, “Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes,' and your 'No,' 'No';

 anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” The Message Paraphrase of Matthew 5:35-37 states it, “You don't make your words true by embellishing them with religious lace. In making your speech sound more religious, it becomes less true. Just say 'yes' and 'no.' When you manipulate words to get your own way, you go wrong.” What is the bottom-line of your life? Are you a credible follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do people you meet believe it? Do they believe you? Consider these things with me!