Wherever You Lead They'll Go
Scripture Reading: Proverbs 12:26
One who is righteous is a guide to his neighbor, but the way of the wicked leads them astray.
Recently, I saw a video that came from a security camera that was trained on an outdoor eating area. The tables were stationed on a sidewalk outside of a café. Every table was occupied by diners who were relaxing and enjoying their meals. Suddenly, a handful of people appear on the camera from the left. They ran down the sidewalk, through the diners, and then disappeared out of sight on the right side of the camera’s view.
Some of the diners were looking around, seemingly confused by what had just happened, but a few of them deduced that something bad was happening and whatever it was might just be headed their way. So, they quickly got up from their tables and began running away, following the people who had just run through the dining area. The remaining diners quickly caught the panic contagion and followed suit, getting up and running away also. They were soon followed by another group of people who appeared from the left, ran through the area, and disappeared to the right.
What made this video go viral was its hilarity of it. The people running along the sidewalk weren’t running away from anything. They were members of a CrossFit group and were exercising, but they inadvertently became the leaders of a mass of people fleeing from an imagined threat.
Proverbs 12:26 is making the point that we can, and likely will lead people somewhere without necessarily making some decision to be a leader. Our lives influence others to one degree or another. The question that remains for us to answer is in what direction will we lead others? The answer to that will be determined by our character.
If you aspire to be a leader (or as the common parlance puts it “an influencer), it might be helpful to take a class or read a book on leadership. But it is infinitely more important to develop character, to become like the righteous person who is a guide to his neighbor, rather than the wicked who leads others astray.
