LEADING BY EXAMPLE
“For yourselves know how ye ought to follow us: for we behaved not ourselves disorderly among you;” 2 Thessalonians 3:7 (KJV)
Welcome to the month of grace and I will be devoting this month to thoughts on leadership. Everyone is a potential leader. The fact that you may not be leading anyone now does not remove from you the innate leadership qualities that God has deposited in you and it is my prayer that every deposit of God in your life will come alive in Jesus’ name. You will not die a potential; you will die empty having fulfilled your purpose on this side of eternity in Jesus’ name.
One of the hallmarks of a good leader is to lead by example. You cannot afford to tell people “do as I say but not as I do”. As a leader, you must be prepared to lead the way and be the example that others will follow. That tells me that the journey as a leader begins with you. You cannot lead others if you have not successfully led yourself.
You must realise that people are more taken in by your action than your words. Thank God for oratory skills but that is not what leadership is about. In every area of life, a leader is one who takes the lead and others follow. Have you seen a war General who cannot use a rifle? The pride of a General stems from the scars of war. All the heroes of the World Wars are celebrated not because they watched the battle from the comfort of their homes, but because they commanded troops and physically led them to victory. That was why Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 3:9 (MSG) said “And it wasn’t because we didn’t have a right to your support; we did. We simply wanted to provide an example of diligence, hoping it would prove contagious.”
The right leader births the right followers. Stop and examine yourself, if people follow what you do, will you be proud of them? If your answer is “No”, then you need to work vigorously on yourself.
Let the leader in you arise.
Further reading: 2 Thess. 3:6-15
Daily Bible Reading: Morning- 1 Kings 10-11; Evening- Luke 21:20-38
