S119P11 – A life in parables: follow the real leader
Lk. 6:39-42
He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.”
He always had a novel strategy for improving life, or what he called “leveling up.” He would take the newest advice from the newest business guru on the block and decide that each new theory was the way to go. Every time another nonsensical metaphor for fixing a common problem came to the forefront, he was listening like the lesson learned yesterday was now too old. He had the word before him and within him, but he kept chasing these worldly sources for what others considered wisdom. The result was that his personal life and his business life never got out of first gear. He would stay stuck on the world’s level, spinning his wheels and getting nowhere.
One would think that becoming a Christian and deciding to follow Christ means that we follow the great leader. Our issue is that we are still imperfect, and we can find hundreds of reasons to seek counsel or direction from other sources. Sometimes we seek that counsel from fellow brothers and sisters, but we are not wise enough to see that they have been led astray. All this talk from Jesus about specks and planks is about understanding the source of our counsel. When we follow those who have no idea where they are going, we simply end up lost. When we try to direct someone on a matter we have not mastered, we also can lead them astray.
Some people are ready to lead us. Those are the ones who truly have been following Christ and know the way. They will lead us in light and be able to teach us real lessons that will bring progress in life. We always follow Chtist first, but He has people in place to help lead us, and He also puts us in the place of leader before others. The first source of our direction must be Christ, or both leader and follower will get nowhere. If no one knows the way out of the maze, we will round the same corner over and over and get nowhere new. Father, bring us leaders with clear and accurate vision, and make us the same kind of leaders for others.