Follow the Leader

As kids, my brother and I and our neighborhood friends would occasionally engage in a lively game of Follow the Leader. The goal was for the Leader to try to lead the group through a variety of actions. The idea was to come up with actions that would challenge the participants to the point that they would be unable to complete the task. Our rules involved giving each Leader the opportunity to invent ten activities. The winning Leader was the one who had the fewest followers left at the end.

Playing the game always required some basic assumptions and expectations in order for it to work fairly and be fun at the same time. One assumption was that everyone really wanted to participate in the process! We understood that you couldn’t have a chance at being Leader unless you were willing to be a Follower most of the time. Another expectation was that no one would quit half way through the game, especially just after having your turn as leader and thus depriving other leaders of your support when they pursued their agendas.

The activities always ranged from the difficult (like climbing over a tall fence) to the silly (like making faces at people in cars as they drove down the street). Whatever the Leader did, the Followers were duty bound to try to imitate – even if they failed in the process.

Follow the Leader is essentially the way God has constructed His Kingdom to operate. Jesus is the chief Leader and we (the Followers) diligently obey His example and instruction. After having faithfully followed Him for a while we eventually begin taking turns in leadership positions under Him.

There is simply no such thing as easy-believism in the Kingdom of God. Everywhere in Scripture the promise of real, true salvation is given to those who “endure to the end.”  Following Jesus will always challenge us and call us to change the way we live, but the end result is LIFE – REAL life! Life in its fullness now and life in eternity afterward. Like Hebrews says;

Heb 12:1-2

“…let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the founder (leader) and perfector of our faith!”

How exciting to be His people,

Pastor David Vanderpool