Follow, then lead

Don’t ever follow anyone who has never followed.

“Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.” -1 Cor. 11:1 

Sometimes I hear people saying that they would not follow anyone because they are best leading themselves. But I have to question that. How can someone effectively lead if they’ve never followed?

In our walk in life what we must understand is that we will learn a lot from the people that lead us, including how to lead.

Paul gave a great example of that when he said “follow me as I follow Christ.” What that meant was that he wasn’t a perfect leader, but he knew the perfect leader to follow.

When we realize that we can learn from other people, we can then be a better person, we can lead better people, and we can become better in God.

This reminds me of individuals who say that they could never work for someone else. It is something about how they want to own their own business and be an entrepreneur. When I ask them why they couldn’t work for someone else they typically say they don’t like anyone telling them what to do. They also say that they don’t like anyone telling them when to come in to work or when they can go home. I then remind them that when you work for yourself you are the first person at your job and you the last person to leave as well as the last person to get paid.

Being a leader isn’t just about telling everyone else what to do and you not doing anything. It’s about leading people, walking with them as you’re doing it, and teaching them as you go. That’s what Christ did. He didn’t just tell us. He performed it, He showed us, He demonstrated it, and He led us.

If you want to be a leader you must first learn how to be an excellent follower.