Following the Leader

Do you remember playing the game “Follow the Leader” when you were little?  Maybe in Sunday School or Preschool?

It went something like this:

The teacher would announce that the game was beginning and all of the children would line up behind her (or him).  Then as the teacher walked around the room, perhaps weaving slowly in between chairs, holding her arms out “like an airplane”, or crouching low and hopping like a frog, we (the children) would mimic her, laughing as we tried to hop on one foot or make “choo choo” sounds like a train. 
Now do you remember? 
(I know some of you are hearing the song in your head right now, just like me! "We're following the leader, the leader, the leader.  We're following the leader, wherever he may go." )
 
Recently, I found myself reflecting on how difficult it feels sometimes to know what is the right thing to do in a particular situation.  At times I find myself overwhelmed with the question, "What is the right thing to do?"

As I thought about that struggle, I remembered the game, "Follow the Leader."
 
If you played this game as a child, you will remember with me, that it was tempting to just look at the kid in line in front of you and do whatever she was doing. After all, the leader was WAY UP THERE at the front of the line and this kid was much closer and easier to see and seemed to know what she was doing...
It didn't take long, though, before you and I learned that watching our friend and mimicking her, instead of the leader, almost always resulted in a misstep, wrong gesture, or a crash.

The fact was and IS that
                      your friend is not your leader 
                                    AND
            he or she is not always going to lead you well. 
 

And so, when trying to determine direction for our lives or make wise decisions, we must look to our Leader! If our eyes remain on The Leader, our Savior and Redeemer, and our actions follow His direction, we can be assured that we will be doing the right thing.
He is a Good Leader!  He will always lead us well! 

One more thing I remembered about playing "Follow the Leader" ~

Occasionally the leader of the game was brave and crouched low to crawl under a table or chair.  Sometimes, we might have looked at that table or chair and thought “I don’t think I can fit!” or even
“I don’t think the leacher can fit”! 

But rest assured, Friend, in the game of “Follow the Leader” and in our Christian lives, the leader never, EVER sends the followers where he is not willing to go first!

If the Leader “crouches to crawl under the table”, we can be certain that we will fit – but only if we follow closely behind our leader, watching closely to see where He is going.  We may bump our heads, or get rug burns on our knees, but when we arrive safely on the other side and we stand up tall and victorious, Jesus will look at us and say “Well done!”  and all of the bumps and bruises, confusion and doubt, will be forgotten. 

I don't mean to minimize the challenges of life or oversimplify the task of discovering God's will in any given situation. Life is hard and knowing and doing what is right can be extremely difficult!

But I do know this,
Following the world or cultural norms will always fall short and often lead us astray!  We cannot look around us to try to find what is right!  We must always look up!

I trust I'm not alone in the need to be reminded to look to Jesus - to seek Him in prayer and through His word, and to trust that the Holy Spirit desires to lead us in a life that glorifies God and points people to Jesus - our Light and our Salvation.

​So as you join me in seeking to be a good follower,
Let’s remember that the key to following well is to keep our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. (Heb. 12:2)​