Looking In The Wrong Places

“The people refused to listen to Samuel. “No!” they said. “We must have a king over us. Then we’ll be like all the other nations: our king will judge us, go out before us, and fight our battles.””
‭‭1 Samuel‬ ‭8‬:‭19‬-‭20‬ ‭CSB‬‬

I read this passage for my morning worship today and it really spoke to me. I encourage you to read the full chapter, as it tells us a lot about the human heart. Anyways, at this point in Israel’s history, they are tired of the Judge system and desire a king so they can be like other nations. They wanted a champion, and so did we. Our heart’s naturally long for a savior, and we tend to look in all the wrong places. This is how we are with leaders. We need someone to look up to and to follow after. God knows this, and it’s why He allowed Israel to have a king. It’s why he designed discipleship the way he did. So this desire really can be a good thing, but we twist it, like we do with all things given to us for the sake of worship. Instead of praising God for leaders, we idolize them, I know I am guilty of this with all my role models from time to time. I don’t want to be like that tho! I want to follow Christ first and foremost, he should be my King and greatest example. And in the midst of this I don’t want to idolize other men in place of Christ, but instead I want to do as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 11:1 “imitate me as I imitate Christ” So my challenge for you this week is to thank someone who follows Christ well!