VERSE:
Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
—Hebrews 13:7

THOUGHT:
I see this as a 2-way exhortation. The first exhortation is to believers in general, and the second is to leaders.

Believers – How do you view your leadership? Do you thank God for their work of speaking His word and caring for His people? Or do you take for granted the hours of study and preparation they go through to help bring you a message from God? Maybe you are more opinionated about things that you disagree with, than appreciative of their faithfulness to God’s people?

Leaders – Is what you have worth imitating? Can you say, as Paul said, follow me as I follow Christ? Do you understand that you will reproduce whatever you are spiritually? If you want more prayer warriors in the congregation, are you giving yourself to warring prayer? If you want more people to share their faith, are you purposefully witnessing to the lost?

APPLICATION:
First, we as believers need to remember our leaders who spoke and are speaking the word of God to us. We should honor those who do the work of the Lord, and we need to watch their way of life, imitating their faith.

Second, we as leaders have to walk in a way worthy of imitation. Set your standards higher than the world’s. Don’t conform, but be transformed. Understand that people are listening, watching, and imitating (whether it’s good, bad, or ugly).

PRAYER:
Heavenly Father, forgive me for at times underappreciating the responsibility of the leaders of our congregation. Help me remember them in my prayers, and in my actions. I pray that you guide them into all paths of righteousness, so that we can follow. Help me as a leader to be one worth following in love, in life, in word and in deed. In Jesus’ Name I pray, AMEN!