Games We Play - Follow the Leader

In the last few weeks I’ve talked about Games We Play: Tag and Hide and Seek. Today I want to talk about Follow the Leader.

We all know how to play this game, right? You line up behind one person and follow them wherever they may go. Not only do you follow them, but you mimic them. This game has the potential to produce a lot of giggles…or a few tears.

It's really no different in our life walk. Except the game has higher stakes. We need to be incredibly careful who we are following. If we choose the wrong person, we’ll end up in places we never wanted to be, and quite possibly as a person we don’t want to be. I don’t know about you, but when I’m being an angry, grumpy mom, I don’t exactly like myself. Which is just one reason I need to choose Christ as my leader, because if I’m mimicking Him, here’s some of what I’ll get:

Slow to anger (Psalm 86:15)

Filled with joy (John 15:11)

Peace & kindness (Galatians 5:22)

Those are not qualities I possess when I follow my flesh.

See, in all areas of our lives—every nook & cranny—we need to be following Christ. We have addictions, mouths that run off, thoughts that shouldn’t be there, people that rub us the wrong way, insecurities…you name it, we have it. But when we’re following Him, we begin to take on His qualities. Not only that, but He leads us through our problems, all the while showing us not only the path to take but how to tackle it (and all our issues along the way).  Because in Christ we are more than conquerors. (Romans 8:37)

And what a testimony we create along the way.

Which is good, too, because we always have someone watching, don’t we? Kids. Co-workers. Friends...Strangers. When they look at me, I want them to see the One I’m following.

This hit home with me recently when I watched an episode of 19 Kids and Counting. I can’t say I watch it often, but this was one episode I caught. I’d actually watched it before, and they were replaying it. Hubby got up and left the room, but I stayed to re-watch. See. This episode impacted me. It was the one where they lost their latest pregnancy. If you haven’t seen it, you should, because it’s an amazing picture of faith. Like, faith that I want to possess when I grow up. Just grab a box of Kleenex if you do watch it.

The line that most impacted me was uttered by Michelle as she did her voice-over for the funeral:

“A multitude of emotions at that moment; gratefulness, gratitude, sorrow, grief. Not understanding now, but knowing that soon I’ll see face to face and I’ll understand later…”

Wow. I mean, I stopped. She said those words in the midst of her grief. That’s faith—blind faith. Not knowing now, yet still following. Understanding that your answer will not come, but trusting that God is still good…and still waiting on Him. Throughout the entire episode she repeated verses she’d learned, at some moments they are the only words she had. She hadn’t just learned these verses, she imprinted them on her heart. She wasn’t just looking to her Savior, she was following Him, even when the path was laid with pain.

And that’s what I want.

To follow the One who will lead me through anything my life may encounter so when others see me, they actually see the One who's leading me.

Who are you following today?

When Jesus spoke again to the people , he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12)