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Follow the Followers
Jeremiah 38:5
"Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you."
There is a game that many children play called, "Follow the leader." The principle of the game is to teach children the importance of the followers following their leader. When the followers follow the leader, and the leader leads in the right direction, then everyone wins. Though life is not a game, it is important that in every role we follow the principle of following the leader.
Why was Judah in such a mess in Zedekiah's day? Very simple, they had very weak leadership! Zedekiah showed how weak of a leader he was when he said, "Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you." This is the sign of weak leadership. Weak leadership follows its followers instead of leading its followers. Followers don't need to lead themselves. They need someone strong enough to tell them what they need to do, as well as someone who will lead them while they are doing it. Leadership is to lead, not follow, that is the purpose of leadership.
In today's society, you will find many leaders who are not leading their followers. It seems as if leaders are following the followers instead of the followers following the leaders. As along as the leaders follow the followers, then you will continue to have a dysfunctional society.
Parents, your responsibility is to lead your children. No parent should follow their children's leadership. Sadly, in many homes you see children leading and this is to their own detriment. God commands the children to obey their parents, not for the parents to obey the children. Every parent should realize the importance of leading their children.
Likewise, the husband needs to start leading instead of following in the marriage. I know we talk a lot about how a lady should not lead, but when the husband won't lead, then someone has to step up and lead. Men, it's time you stop being the follower and start being the leader God intended for you to be.
In our churches, we need pastors who will stop following the followers and start leading them. The whole reason why we have Christian rock in our music programs and the hipster society taking control of the churches is because the pastors are following the followers. If pastors would follow God and lead the church, then there would not be liberalism inside of the church.
Christian, be sure that in every relationship you are fulfilling your proper role of following or leading. If you are a follower in a certain relationship, then be sure to follow and stop fighting against the leader. If you are a leader in another relationship, then you need to be sure to lead and not follow the followers. Whenever the leaders follow the followers you will find that compromise and heartache will follow, but when the leaders follow God and lead their followers in the way God wants them to go, then joy and success will come. Let's not live life following the followers, but let's live life following the leaders.