“Jesus wasn’t looking for leaders at all. Jesus was looking for followers.”

A thought by Leonard Sweet, (2012-01-03) from his book, I Am a Follower: The Way, Truth, and Life of Following Jesus (p. 20). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I have been challenged by Leonard Sweet back to his first books on the church. He brings things into focus and this thought does it for me again.

He shares, “Leadership is a functional position of power and authority. Followership is a relational posture of love and trust.” And somehow it is imperative in our walk with Him to see that He is the leader and we are the follower. The disciples show us how that worked. They were chosen by Him just as we are and they accepted His call as we should and they walked and watched and followed Him wherever He went. And that could be where our problem starts.

I mean they saw Him in person. They could talk to Him, ask Him questions, watch Him but now we say that we don’t have that ability so we look to be or look for others to be that physical presence. Thus we need leaders but if you go back to the Old Testament you see where that desire led them. They had prophets who told them what God wanted them to do but they wanted a King, a physical leader and the rest of the story is they lived in a mess. And the mess continues today.

Now who is to be our leader today? Who is the head of the Church? Jesus is the head of the church. Yes God has called out those who are responsible but they are still to be followers. God still speaks through people and we listen to God’s Spirit speak through His messengers and also listen personally to His Spirit and listen to His word.

I’m just about done with reading the Old Testament. I’ll finish Nahum today. Every Christ follower needs to read over and over what happened after His people demanded a King. It is not a pretty story. I’m so ready to start the story of the Gospels where God came down in the form of His Son to show us who we are to follow and then of how He gave us His Spirt and His Word to lead us.

You see, God is our power and authority and as a follower we have a relationship with Him built on love and trust.

So are you striving to lead or to follow?

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