Follow the Leader

The Holy Spirit taught me a great thing upon today.  He taught me that in order to be viewed as a good leader you must first follow a good leader.  And honestly i could think of no better leader than Christ Jesus himself. 

For the last month and a half i have had the pleasure of meeting some of the nicest people in Kentucky.  These complete strangers have come through my job and made it a point to tell me, along with their order, that I have an inviting smile and greeting or that I just seem to brighten peoples day whenever they come in contact with me.  To me these compliments or more than just compliments.  They are testimonies to God's grace and mercy in my life.  They are testimonies of what can and will happen should you just choose to submit to the will of God.

I felt very proud, but not in myself, I was proud to be a servant and an ambassador to Christ Jesus.  When people see this unfathomable joy they will want to know why I am the way i am.  It is because of Christ Jesus whose Holy Spirit lives within me.  Simple as that.  Has nothing to do with me being a minister or even a church member.  It has to do with me making a choice to follow one of the greatest leaders known and unknown to man.  

At work I have had several employees under me come up to me and say "you are tough but you are fair, you encourage as well as reprimand and I think you will be a great improvement here at work".  Again another example of God's hand moving in the life of the believer.  This compliment reminds me of a scripture I found in Proverbs, one of my favorite books.... Prov 21:1 - "Good Leadership is a channel of water controlled by God; he directs it to whatever end He chooses.

Good leadership first starts with submission.  If you can't submit yourself to Christ how do you expect others to submit unto you?  Can I push it?  Men of God you can't very well expect a woman to submit to your authority as the spiritual leader in your home and you yourself have not submitted to your spiritual leader yourself which should be Christ Jesus.

1 Cor 1:25 states For the foolishness of God is wiser than any man, and the weakness of God is stronger than any man.  God's foolishness is higher and wiser than any compliment that is given to me.  Nothing anyone can say about me can ever and should never exalt me higher than the one who has blessed me to even be complimented in the first place.

Scroll on down to verse 31...Let the one who boasts; let him boast in the Lord.    And there it is people.  Nothing anyone ever says to me should exalt my ego.  Some things may  bruise my ego and pride but it should never be so much that I place myself above Christ.  Remember that when someone praises the work you done; no matter if its a friend, stranger, spouse, significant other or co-worker.  Always point back to Christ in everything you do. James 4:10