Examples, Leadership and true to Who?

I posted my previous entry to a couple of different places and received the following comment in response to this line: "I pray I would have the courage to stand and that they would be proud I made that choice."
"Excellent line right there. Actions, not words, train children. Or really anyone, or so my years in leadership roles have taught me. We can only hope the eyes watching our example are seeing the best of us, and building that into themselves, not just the times we fall."


It is by Living the example that I can best teach my children. I know that I fall far short of the ideal that I should be. That I am not the man that The Lord has called me to be, The husband my wife desires me to be, or the father my children need me to be. I think it ultimately comes down to 2 things, and possibly even a single thing. Selfishness. The desire to put myself and my wants first. To live out the concept of "Above all else, to thine own self be true."

I have written on this before, and perhaps I say it again because it is a lesson I still need to learn. That there is a higher calling than being true to yourself. That is to be true to Jesus Christ.

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. " and   23 Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.
What this means is that we, in our natural selves are selfish, and desire to put ourselves first. We want to be God, and in control, if not just ourselves, everything around us as well. We have to learn to put Him first in our lives and put him in control. That is not an easy thing. We all have our own thing, that which is precious to us. Our own private, or not so private, part of us which separates us from God and yet has to be put to death to free us to move toward a more Christ-like life. This is why we can not Judge others, because we ourselves are no different. The specific sins may differ, but we all have them, and it is a daily, even hourly struggle to put them to death and turn to God.


To be true to "thine ownself" is to elevate that very thing that separates us to a place that should be occupied by God.






This then is the example I should be giving my Children, the example of putting my own precious things aside and seeking The Lord.