Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
How many Christian leaders have you had in your life that you can look back on and model your life after? How many of them did you know well enough to model your life after? How many Christian leaders have you had that gave you better notes on how not to live than to live?
This verse in Hebrews references leaders that passed away.* They lived their lives in such a way that others could model their lives after them with the purpose of closeness to Christ.* This phenomenon was not incredibly unique to the approach of the early church.* Paul serves as an example of this with his words in 1 Corinthians 11:1,
Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.
We don’t know anything about the past leaders to which the author of Hebrews speaks.* We certainly cannot assume that the word “leader” referred to any kind of official position in the church.* Regardless, those he mentions are worth emulating.
As we experience the leadership of others (from parents, teachers, church leaders, etc), we will have good and bad experiences. Based upon the brokenness of humanity throughout history, I doubt that the leaders that the author of Hebrews mentions were perfect.
Whether we experience loss from leaders that we loved and they passed away (as the case of those in the book of Hebrews), or we experience loss from the lost opportunity of leaders that were a hurtful disappointment, we can find hope in these words: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Jesus does not die. We can emulate Him always. Jesus does not hurt; He does not disappoint; He heals always.
The challenge for us is this: we are all leaders… what kind of leader will we be?
John Wesley’s memorial in Westminster Abby reads,
God buries his workmen, but He carries on his work.
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to remember Christ - to think on all that He is as savior, redeemer, servant, friend, and love. Perhaps today God would have you grieve the loss of great leaders or grieve the loss of leaders who did not measure up. Maybe today God wants you to take a step to becoming a leader that looks like Christ.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus.
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*Stedman, R. C. (1992). Hebrews (Heb 13:1-6). IVP Academic.
Grindheim, S. (2023). The Letter to the Hebrews (D. A. Carson, Ed.; pp. 668–669). William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
France, R. T. (2006). Hebrews. In T. Longman III & D. E. Garland (Eds.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews–Revelation (Revised Edition) (Vol. 13, pp. 184). Zondervan.
Guthrie, G. (1998). Hebrews (p. 437). Zondervan Publishing House.