Following leaders and mentors can help us grow in all areas of our lives but we are not called to blindly follow anyone. First and foremost we are accountable to God. God will place leaders/mentors in our lives but they are secondary to Him.

God is perfect and ALL people are imperfect. Like any problem in society, we have pendulum swings. In the case of following a person, we can blindly follow to the extent and detriment of our very lives like in the Jim Jones disaster in 1978. Of course the pendulum swing in the opposite direction would be to distrust everyone and miss out on the benefits of mentorship.

Where is the balance? Follow God first! Don’t blindly follow any person without checking in to the Throne Room. Every well-meaning person can get off track without even realizing it. Deception is a tricky matter. We don’t know when we are deceived! Having said that – if we keep checking in with God, He can get us back on track.

We can have mentors in every area of our lives – people who speak into our lives as parents, spouses, as singles, regarding finances, work ethics, careers, self-improvement, spiritual growth, character development, in the area of health and fitness, and of course in the area of balancing all these areas.

Opinions are a dime a dozen and it doesn’t take much to back any opinion up with data or evidence that sounds logical. But what is God speaking?

In that day when we will ALL give account to God, we will not be allowed to blame others. We are all accountable for the choices we made throughout our lives. If we follow God first, we have the greatest opportunity to make the very best choices.