Bible Ballistics: BBs #406 Leading Or Mis-Leading???
We all hear about someone having the “leading” role in some theatrical production, or even as children we all played follow the “leader”, and little school children love to be picked as the “leader” for the day. Most everyone wants to be a leader at one time or another, but what kind of leader are we being? And like it or not, we are all a leader in someone else’s life! So m y question for us today is a question that Dietrich Bonheoffer posed many years ago, will you “be a leader or a ‘mis-leader’”? The only way that we can be a true and faithful leader is to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, the creator, savior and Lord of all!
Jesus calls us to follow Him, and as we follow Christ faithfully, we can rest secure as others follow us.
“For though ye have ten thousand instructors
in Christ,
yet have ye not many fathers:
for in Christ Jesus
I have begotten you
through the gospel.
16 Wherefore I beseech you,
be ye followers of me.
17 For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus,
who is my beloved son,
and faithful in the Lord,
who shall bring you into remembrance
of my ways
which be in Christ,
as I teach every where in every church.” 1 Corinthians 4:15-17
Paul called the Corinthians to be “followers of me” as he was a faithful ‘follower’ and Apostle of Jesus, leading them in “my ways which be in Christ”! What way are we leading those who are following us? There is a great responsibility for each of us, and the example we set for others ought to be faithful and true to God and His Word! Just as Jesus called us to follow Him, and sacrifice “self” to HIM!
“And he said to them all,
If any man will come after me,
let him deny himself,
and take up his cross daily,
and follow me.
24 For whosoever will save his life
shall lose it:
but whosoever will lose his life
for my sake,
the same shall save it.” Luke 9:23-24
We must loose ourselves ‘in’ Jesus, but we must also ‘come’ after Him with all our will, giving ourselves to following Him deliberately and consistently. Then, and only then, can others see HIM in us, and we will be leading them “to Jesus” and not to ‘self’! And we can only do this by the power that Jesus gives to those who are His, the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus gives to those who come to Him in repentance and faith! And when we come to Jesus we are to abide in HIM and not the world; and then Jesus can be seen by those who are following us, for without HIM we will never lead them in the right direction!
“I am the true vine,
and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me
that beareth not fruit
he taketh away:
and every branch that beareth fruit,
he purgeth it,
that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now ye are clean
through the word
which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me,
and I in you.
As the branch
cannot bear fruit
of itself,
except it abide
in the vine;
no more can ye,
except ye abide in me.
5 I am the vine,
ye are the branches:
He that abideth in me,
and I in him,
the same bringeth forth
much fruit:
for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:1-5
May we “abide” in Jesus! His work being seen in us, by the power of HIS Spirit, so others, who are following us, will see HIM! And that’s what it’s all about. Being leaders and never “mis-leaders”, as we die to self and live unto Jesus! Lead on dear friends—lead on as “Christ liveth in me”! Press on! Lead on—someone is following YOU!!!
“I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live;
yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me:
and the life which I now live
in the flesh
I live by the faith
of the Son of God,
who loved me,
and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20
Bible Ballistics 