Lead by Example

Leading by doing the thing you want others to do can be very difficult.  It has always been a practice of mine to live my life in a manner that others would want to follow.  This can be very demanding in a world that wants to set its own standards.  We must be strong in making these decisions to do what is right, versus doing what is popular.  I always want to lead by example by doing what is right, regardless of the cost, and regardless of what the rest of the world would want me to do.  God has the same approach through His Son Jesus Christ.  Christ lived a sinless life despite the sinful nature of the world He was living in.  We should be proud to follow in His footsteps. 

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.”  1 Peter 2:21-25

 We all have the ability of choosing, of making decisions each and every day that have an impact on those who are watching our every move.  These include our co-workers, our friends and our family members and most importantly, our children.  We are impacting the lives of others when we make our decisions on living a life full of what God intended us to be.  Our obligation is to a God who sent His Son to die so that “by His wounds we are healed.”  We are commanded by our loving God to live a life like Jesus lived.  We have the greatest example to follow.  The only thing left to do is to get in line.

 

But we have other ideas, other plans, other goals and objectives. We want to march to our own drummer and live a life that pleases our ego, and not our God.  It’s this sinful life that begins to make its way into our daily routine.  We fight and we argue over the slightest issues, creating the snowball of evil that continues to grow because we want the last word.  I can attest to this because I want to win an argument each time I get into one.  We all have this competitive gene, yet we do nothing to control it. 

 Christ has the solution to this problem.  All we have to do is to follow His lead.  But that would mean changing, and we all hate change.  That would mean cleaning up our act and we all want to misbehave now and then.  That would mean cleaning up our language, but it feels so good to throw out the occasional curse word.  I understand how difficult the change can be.  God knows that I’m trying, but the world wants to make it so difficult at times.  My only advice would be to visit God’s Word when you are feeling these emotions, because it will “lead by example.” 

 

“in the world, not of the world”