Baptist City Blog

Leading by Following

Luke 2:51

"And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart."

The greatest leader who ever lived was Jesus. When the world thinks of great leaders, rarely do you hear them bring up Jesus as a great leader. However, when you consider that Jesus is the Son of God, you will realize that He was most certainly the greatest leader. Yet, how often do you look at the life of Jesus for leadership lessons?

One of the greatest leadership lessons in the Scriptures is taught in the verse above. Jesus understood that He was the Son of God. However, though He understood at this point that He was the Son of God, He still subjected Himself to His parents. Though He should have led His parents because He was the Son of God, He still followed Joseph and Mary because they were His parents. Jesus exemplified in this verse that He was a great leader because He understood that great leaders will follow when they are not in their area of leadership.

It is often said that you don't deserve to lead if you can't follow. Before leaders ever had the opportunity to lead, they had the opportunity to follow. Following qualifies who deserves to lead. This is because when you lead, you are still following. Great leaders don't use their position to get their way, but they use their position to serve their followers.

Parents need to rear their children to be leaders. One of the reasons why children should obey is so they can learn to be better leaders someday. Obedience should be expected of children. When a child is out of control and won't obey, then they are showing that they will be a poor leader because if they had a position of leadership, then they would use that position for their own gain.

Moreover, you should always use a person's ability to follow as a measuring stick to determine their ability to lead. A person who can't follow their pastor in the church should never be given a position of leadership. An employee who cannot follow their supervisor should never be given a position of leadership. A citizen who cannot follow the laws of the land should never be given a position of authority in society.

If you want to be a better leader in the areas in which you lead, then you need to be sure to be a good follower. Stop being the one who always has to buck the system. Questioning those in leadership should not be your mantra. I am not implying that you should be a blind follower, but I am implying that you should learn to subject yourself to those who lead you, even if you know how to lead in that area. The greatest qualification for leadership is followship. When you have learned how to follow, then you have learned how to lead.