“ Children generally don ’ t just follow what they are told by parents . Instead , they learn from what is lived and modeled . The question is , what are we living and modeling for those around us ?”
think they can use the stairs of Heaven as a short cut to the nearest chemist ’ s shop .” Just as God will not be used to make a “ good society ,” neither will he be used to make a “ good person ” or a “ good leader ” and then be cast aside or minimized . Not only is God the means of our sanctification and spiritual transformation , he must also be the primary aim of it .
Further emphasizing this point , in his book A Grief Observed , Lewis makes a similar comment about our view of reunions in the life to come . He writes , “[ God ] can ’ t be used as a road . If you ’ re approaching Him not as the goal , but as a road , not as the end but as the means , you ’ re not really approaching Him at all . That ’ s what was really wrong with all those popular pictures of happy reunions ‘ on the further shore ’; not the simple-minded and very earthly images , but the fact that they make an End of what we can get only as a by-product of the true End ”— that is , God .
Lewis ’ s point here is vital . If we approach God simply as a means to our ends — even good ends , such as being reunited with loved ones or pursuing a life of spiritual discipline and transformation — we are not really approaching him at all . When God is not our end , he will not be our means , for , in Lewis ’ s words , God “ will not be used as a convenience .” But when God genuinely becomes our ultimate end , when he becomes our treasure and infinite delight , then he is ready and willing to graciously give us all things needed to do his will in life and leadership . Such logic resonates with Saint Augustine ’ s beautiful prayer in his Confessions : “ He loves thee too little who loves anything together with thee which he loves not for thy sake .”
In my leadership classes , I often remind students that we teach what we treasure ; we motivate with what we model ; we transform others by what has truly transformed us . In other words , the people we lead do not simply need to hear what we think and know . They need to see and experience what we treasure — what has truly transformed us . The same is true with parenting , isn ’ t it ? Children generally don ’ t just follow what they are told by parents . Instead , they learn from what is lived and modeled . The question is , what are we living and modeling for those around us ?
“ Children generally don ’ t just follow what they are told by parents . Instead , they learn from what is lived and modeled . The question is , what are we living and modeling for those around us ?”
We could look to several passages that communicate these truths . I ’ ll point to two . First , a passage that has motivated me since my high school years is Ezra 7:10 : “ For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord , and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel .” Ezra understood that teaching others had to be linked to studying God ’ s Word and practicing it in his life . Second , consider Deuteronomy 6:4 – 9 — sometimes referred to as the Shema — which links the ideas of treasuring and teaching :
Hear , O Israel : The Lord our God , the Lord is one . You shall love the Lord your
53