follow the leader

Did you ever play as a kid? It was always both exciting and interesting for me. It starts out simple enough. One rather boring kid leads everyone else through the field and down the slide. Another athletic one decides to hop on one foot and do a summersault. Then there’s always the obnoxious smart aleck. He starts out with a brisk trot by the rabid dog whose leash is frayed and stretched to its limit. After a fly-by of the principal’s office and a head slap of the football team, you end up diving for quarters in the pond behind the school. Ohhhh…don’t ask.

Anyway, follow the leader is a fascinating kid’s game for many reasons. Not only can you dissect and examine why certain kids lead certain activities, but you each get to take a turn. You’re not just a follower and you’re not just a leader. Each kid gets to experience both. And that’s a great, real-life lesson to learn.

The reality is that very few people are born leaders. I believe that true leadership is a gift from God. Not everyone has it. In fact, most people don’t. Only a handful is born to be strong, natural leaders. Certain leadership principles can be taught and learned, but no amount of training will transform a natural follower into a natural leader. However, at certain points and in certain ways, we all lead.

There is a big difference between the gift of leadership and the role of a leader. Like the game, we take turns in our various roles. At home we fill certain ones: spouse, parent, friend, counselor, etc. At work our roles probably look very different: employer, employee, salesman, troubleshooter, etc. You get the idea. We all function in a variety of roles in a given day, week or month. And many of those roles are leadership.

Picture this. You’re standing in line at a gas station waiting to pay. From nowhere in particular, you’re struck with a thought. “There’s a guy standing behind me in line. I should pay for his gas.” WHAT?! Where in the world did that come from?! As you stand there arguing with yourself, you realize it might not have been your idea at all. What if God is speaking to you? What if He just issued a command? What if He, as the leader, just dove in the pond and invited you to follow? What do you do?

Dozens of things just like that happen on a daily basis. The question is: how often do we follow the leader? How often do we take some initiative of our own and lead those around us? Do we even recognize the influence we have been given? See, the thing is, even though we might fill a leadership role, we’re not really leading at all, are we. God is the only real leader. We’re always following Him. Where He goes, I follow. What He says, I repeat. Whatever he does, I copy.

From a human perspective, I might appear to be a leader, but really I’m a follower just like everyone else. I have just chosen to follow God instead of another man. And in doing so, I am leading those who look to me. I guess in a way I’m filling two roles at the same time. I’m leading other people, but I’m following the example of Jesus Christ. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could all do that? Boy, what a difference we could make in that role: followers of Christ; leaders of men.