1 Thessalonians 1:6
6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.

The thought that someone is watching our lives, much less seeing something in us or in our behavior worth emulating or imitating, is humbling in the extreme. In the world's terms it would be the ultimate compliment - and the lesser leader might allow a following to inflate his/her ego. But in Christian terms this imitation should only be a testimony to the grace, goodness, and faithfulness of God in our lives and not a tribute to our own efforts (although it's nice to be appreciated and even formally honored or recognized!)
Paul's model of leadership (which was the Lord's 'style' as well) was a blend of 'word and deed'; 'talk and walk'; ‘tell and show’. And people respected him and his team ('us') so much that even in the midst of strong challenges and suffering they sought to model their own lives after them and, of course, the Lord.
As leaders and managers, the call on our lives is to speak and live in ways that others feel compelled to 'welcome' what they see - preferably gladly - even when it's hard (as in, the standard is high) to follow our example - or when they are encouraged to change, improve and grow because of our authentic lives. And even harder as a boss...."do what I say and do as I do". A very tall order! A tough assignment! We’ll need a lot of grace and hope the organization doesn’t do upward appraisals of managers anytime soon!
PRAYER ACTION
Lord, remind me of the difference between 'happiness' and 'joy' today. Just because things don't always 'happin' according to plan, or to my liking, please unlock the true, in-spite-of-the-mess-around-me-joy deep inside me that reminds me to hang in there and serve You in the face of suffering and difficulty. Your Joy, not 'happenstance', is my Strength.

"As a leader, you're probably not doing a good job unless your employees can do a good impersonation of you when you're not around."
(Patrick Lencioni)
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