Leading by Example

I was getting a tad impatient with my son while I was tutoring him with his Math lessons one night; I
know he can sense it in my tone. “Anak, how many times do I have to say it? The Minuend is the first
number in subtraction!” He would just nod and proceed in answering his math exercises. In the middle
of doing his task though he suddenly exclaimed, “I get it now, thank you for teaching me mommy!”
and when he said that he sounded genuinely ecstatic. I was speechless – here I was, very close to
losing my temper yet my son was still grateful I was there. That same moment I felt his gratefulness, I
also became more aware of the kind of energy I am projecting to him so I corrected myself and
engaged with him more positively.

In the book, Lead as Jesus Led: Transformed Influence, the authors Bill Hull and Paul Mascarella
described a leader as “Someone who uses their power to influence a person’s thoughts and actions to
cause some kind of change in their thinking and behavior.” And that is exactly what my son did to me.
I was in the verge of losing my cool but my son influenced me to change my behavior; not by telling
me to change my tone or talking back but by simply demonstrating how happy and grateful he was.
In that simple incident – he showed me how to lead by example.

Very often, however, we associate the ability to lead by example not with our humble selves but with
someone who has a position of influence. In this day and age where the number of likes and views
and virtual followers are such a big thing, it’s very easy to get lost and feel small. The issue with that
way of thinking though is we are actually telling ourselves “I have no impact – My actions don’t
matter.” when the truth is we are ALWAYS leading by example whether we are aware of it or not and
yes - notwithstanding the number of our Instagram followers.

I have also come to realize that no one encounters the love of Jesus only to leave no impact on others.
We each have gifts to share and the best leader to emulate and that is Jesus; He is after all, the very
best developer of leaders in history. Jesus led not just by talking about how to live – He lived out his
own words. His life is an amazing model of consistency between message and action and through this
He was able to develop simple men into influential figures with unwavering faith.

Jesus’ leadership is further illustrated in Acts 4:13, where it reads “Now when they saw the boldness
of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished.
And they recognised that they had been with Jesus.”

I find that verse such an inspiration. “They had been with Jesus.” It is rousing to know that the source
of the disciples’ boldness and confidence was not anything in themselves, but was a direct result of
the time they had spent with Jesus. And what we need to remember is that we also carry in us that
JESUS BRAND of leadership! And the more we get to know Jesus – every time we try to be like Him in
own unique ways we declare that His goodness and when people see God’s goodness and love alive
in us we are able to lead them closer to Him. So be undaunted in proclaiming that you have been with
Jesus with the example you make.

References:

https://bible.org/assets/worddocs/ETL_Book5.pdf