A Call to Leadership

Who has God called to be leader in your household? What about your workplace or school, or maybe in some other area of service? Young people reading this, this is not to say you should overtake the authority of your parents and teachers. Church members, this is not to say you should overtake the authority of your pastor, your boss, or even your Sunday School teacher. As Christians, God calls each and every one of us to a form of leadership. For some, this is more obvious: pastors, teachers, deacons. What is your form of leadership, and are you being an effective leader?

In looking at the Biblical examples, God never calls everyone to lead the same thing. God calls a single person out to lead at a particular thing. God called Abraham to follow Him and raise a nation. God called Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt and into Canaan. God called Joshua to lead the armies of Israel into victory in Canaan. God called David to kill Goliath.

If all of the Israelites had been called to kill Goliath, we would not have the story of a small boy with a sling killing a mighty giant; God would get no glory from it. We might have had a few verses that a giant taunted the Israelites and they all rushed in and killed him, but that's not nearly as powerful of a story. These are just a few very simple examples. In many cases, the men ended up with other leaders under them, and they became leaders of leaders.

A weak leader will ultimately breed a weak following. In Deuteronomy 31:6 we find Moses addressing the people of Israel before he is to die, and he tells them to "be strong and courageous" and have no fear of their enemies. Immediately after this, he turns to the newly called leader, Joshua, and repeats this command to him specifically in Deuteronomy 31:7-8. He is reaffirming to the leader that he has the responsibility of setting the example for the people to follow. The people know what to do, but it rests on the leader to show them by example how they should do it.

When people first started following my examples, I didn't even realize it. I was callous and set some pretty poor examples. God has guided me slowly into a place to set a better example for others to follow. Just the simple realization that others really did watch what I do brought a lot more weight down on my head to set a proper example for them. I'm not perfect by any means, and I still go astray from the example I should set, but with God's grace and guidance, my leadership will improve. What kind of leader are you turning out to be for those looking at you for an example?