Follow the Leader

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. James 4:7
Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all. 1 Chronicles 29:11-12

Devotion

I am going to be honest here … When I first received the invite to write about self-stewardship, I cringed a little, okay a lot! When I hear self-stewardship. I think about self-leadership and self-care—and I have never been very good at either of those. Having grown up with little to no supervision, I was left to self-stewardship at a young age. I was caring for myself quite often with very little tools to do so. This led to a few decades of poor stewardship, bad habits, and many hard lessons. I led myself into unhealthy eating, unhealthy sleeping, and unhealthy relationships with those around me. I was oblivious to the strongholds against me.

Have you ever played Follow the Leader? As a kid, I played lots of games with my six brothers and sisters, but this was one of our favorite games. We probably didn’t play it like you did—think Fear Factor combined with tag and ninja warrior. When we played, it was all about how difficult and complicated the leader could make it for others to follow. When the leader called out the commands or started the flow of actions, we never knew who would get hurt, but someone always ended up hurt, frustrated, or mad. The leader would climb on dressers and tree limbs, roll in a sticker patch down a hill, and eat whatever bugs could be caught or gross concoction could be made up. (I did discover that I liked a jelly and mayo sandwich for a time.) We would do things we were certain the others could not or would not do to follow. Yet, we still played.

When I was trying to self-steward my life, it felt like I was following a leader who did not want me to reach him, following unrealistic goals and expectations, following dark turns and dead ends … until I met Jesus and found a new leader to follow, a new steward over my life. When I fully surrendered to him, the following was much more clear. I felt something I had never felt before—my leader wanted me to reach him, welcomed me to him.

James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” The act of surrendering to God gave me absolute peace and freedom in my life, knowing Someone bigger than me was calling the commands and already had awesome plans for me. Submitting to God means that God and his Word become the ultimate authority over all the decisions you make in your life. When I found Jesus at 31 years old, I learned that flourishing self-stewardship involves a growth mindset and lots of faith. For me, it begins with admitting and proclaiming that God has ownership over every area of my life at the start of every day. He is my leader.

1 Chronicles 29:11-12 states, “Yours, Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, Lord, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.” As a follower of Christ, self-stewardship is full surrender to the maker of heaven and earth. Our mighty God is exalted over all, especially over me. I belong to him; he leads me. I give him my past, present, and future. He, in return, leads me and teaches me to love myself because he first loved me; he teaches me to value myself because he created me for a purpose; he teaches me to give freely of the gifts he has blessed me with because he has called me to this time for this purpose.

When I first became a Christ-follower, my mother-in-law told me about how she would shut herself in the closet at home when her kids were young to have a quiet place to fully surrender. That stuck with me. I started to use quiet car rides and early morning hours to fully surrender to his lead; as I go through different seasons, the location and times sometimes change.

For full surrender, I need full accountability because on my own I fail. I find it important to surround myself with loving followers who are truthful, authentic, and wise in their walk with our Leader. This circle of support includes my husband and my close friends who aren’t afraid to speak hard truths, ask difficult questions, and receive difficult answers.

If you find you are playing Follow the Leader with anyone other than God, I encourage you to find your quiet space and fully surrender. Pray about a group of friends who will help point you to Christ daily when you struggle to do so on your own. I have never regretted submitting to this Leader.

PRAYER

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for inviting me to follow you. Help me to remember your promises. Lead me in the ways you want me to go. Thank you for your sacrifice so I can have the opportunity to follow your example. Amen.

Jenny Brown
Crossings Kids Pastor, Crossings Community Center

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