Do you aspire to be a great leader? Do you hope to avoid leading others astray?
Then be a good follower who chooses role models with great care.

As a Christian I always want to be modeling for others what I see Christ doing.
The word “Christian” means Christ-like or Christ follower. So… every Christian
is by definition a follower of the greatest leader who ever lived. And Christ
himself was always following his Father’s lead. “I do only what I see my father
doing,” Jesus explained to his disciples.

And when we consider the life Jesus lived, what do we see? We see love,
humility, service, healing, teaching and following – God following. Perhaps what
was most distinctive about the life of Christ was his ‘followership’ – he followed
his Father’s lead faithfully no matter what the cost. Jesus spent many hours
praying – often rising early while it was still dark to start the day with God. His
fervent focus was on following his Father’s directives. And not only was he a
focused follower of God, he refused to follow anyone or anything else! Even as
a child he was found in his Father’s house when his earthy parents expected
him to be following the crowd. Instead he was teaching religious leaders how to
follow God.

With singleness of purpose Jesus followed God and refused to follow Satan or
anyone who tried to distract him from his calling. What about you? Are you
leading like Jesus by following God’s call?

There may be times when following Jesus involves great sacrifice. He told us
there would be suffering and Jesus himself had to make some difficult choices –
even to the point of sweating blood in the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet he kept
his eyes on the prize and was faithful to the bitter end.

Remember the words of Christ: “Many who are first will be last, and the last
first… Whoever desires to be great among you must be your servant.” (Mark
10:31, 43)