"Lord, make me and Example, that I may inspire your people"
The center word of my morning mantra is ironically also at the heart of my fears of being a follower of Christ.
I am afraid of leading; afraid of being followed. There's just so much involved with it, so much that can go wrong. Lemmings off a cliff. Domino effects. Millstone around my neck. When I think about others following my direction and guidance a part of me freezes up or shies away. "Who am I," I ask. "What qualifies me to do this?"
Despite this obvious reluctance that I have to being in front, however, God continues to foil my plans. It's like when someone asks a group of people if they want to volunteer take one step forward, and everyone but me takes one step back. What the crap!?! He didn't say we could do that!
I have story upon story of me trying to run from the mantle of leadership and God hog-tying me into it anyway. So, to save both of us the effort (and me the rope burns) I started to seek out the positions instead of running from them, but with a very specific mindset.
A good leader inspires.
I don't picture a good leader as someone who points the direction out to others and says, "That way." That's a traffic controller. I don't picture a good leader as someone who sets the standard bar at a certain height and says, "Here's where you need to be." That's a dictator.
I picture a good leader more like someone God can use to awaken potential in others, with or without the leader's knowledge. An example to that other person of what they have the potential to be. I think a good leader never asks something of their people that they wouldn't do themselves. Leading by example. A good leader equips their people for success, making sure they have everything they need to accomplish the task ahead.
But most importantly, a good leader stirs up something deep inside God's people that drives them to be better than they are.
That is what I mean when I ask God to make me an example that inspires his people. I do not want others looking at me and saying, "I want to be like that." I want others to look past me, by saying, "If God can do that through Kyle, what can he accomplish through me?"
That's the type of example I see Jesus talking about in the gospels, especially John's account. He kept reviving potential in his people to accomplish so much more for the kingdom than they thought they could. In fact, the death, burial, and resurrection removes the largest obstacle for a fully connected relationship with God, a relationship that could inspire each human being into becoming a useful vessel for the kingdom.
And so I ask God to make me an example, that I may be used to inspire his people, to reach their full potential as a follower of Christ.
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