It is an anomaly for a paw-paw tree to bear a mango fruit, nor for a rice seed to grow into a kola nut tree. The correct order is that each parent bears its kind and a good tree bears a good fruit.  But there is something under the sun that never ceases to amaze me, it is when a good and effective leader raises a rigid and dogmatic follower. And I begin to ask myself certain questions, could it be the fault of the seed (the leader), or the fault of the fruit (the follower)? what could have gone wrong?

 

If someone may answer this question, he would say since the tree is bad, the fruit should be bad or since the tree is good the fruit should be good also, like begets like, isn't it?  After all Jesus said make the tree good and the fruit would be good. Haven thought about all this, have we wondered why man (the follower) became rebellious to a  good God (the leader)?, and Jesus Christ the saviour had a Judas Iscariot who is unstable in all His ways as a disciple?  He went through the same training, the same rigorous spiritual exercise with other disciples, he saw the signs and wonders, he held the money bag yet he wanted more. What was his end? Regret and suicide. What about Gehazi? Generational leprosy. What else was he looking for? Nothing actually! It was a spirit that entered into him, the spirit of greed.

 

Adam and Eve were in a garden where all was provided for them, but they wanted more, they wanted to be like God, which led to their fall. Demas left Apostle Paul and the work of ministry because He was carried away with the things of the world. One thing these people failed to realize is that if you seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness, all other things will be added to you. Here, I have realized something that makes a bad follower of a good leader, it is simply greed and self centeredness. It began from the onset and it continues even until this our time. Self has the capacity to make a man lose focus. When you trace the origin of every rebellion, every lie, pride, murder etc, it all boils down to self centeredness. You can take the case of Lucifer for example.

 

I want us to look at a scripture very closely, from the book of Matthew 6:33, It says; But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. The first thing I want us to note from this scripture is that it is not enough to seek first the kingdom of God, that's the first stage,  It is good but doing that you stop at the realm of religion. Seeking the kingdom can be done by anybody,  Adam was doing the work, Judas was doing the work, Demas was doing the work, even Gehazi were doing the work but with a different attitude and mindset. What makes it difficult, or what differentiates the work from others is the second part  which says; "and HIS righteousness" this is what makes the work of ministry difficult, this is what makes the Christian race actually demanding, or even pleasing to God. You can be doing religion by seeking the kingdom but if you do not seek His righteousness you won't get the full package and promise of that scripture.

 

Whenever you see "and" in a sentence, it means it is a conjunction, it means one is relevant but you must also consider the other. So are you are follower, of Christ or under a leadership? other than seeking the kingdom, you must be mindful of His righteousness, because in it you will find the will of God, and several other requirements to live a meaningful life and then the reward is that all other things which are material things would be added unto you. This reminds me of a scripture in Matthew 13:44, “The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure that a man discovered hidden in a field. In his excitement, he hid it again and sold everything he owned to get enough money to buy the field.

 

For any follower who finds a leadership worth emulating, you must treasure it, put your focus in perspective and give it all that you have in order to bear the same fruit of that leadership. Don't be like a bad leader following a good leadership, it is like a bad fruit hanging on a good tree, and Jesus said in John  15:2 Any branch that does not bear fruit He takes away. And if you are a believer, and you don't want your focus to shift, the secret is to TREASURE IT! Do not be deceived, God cannot be mocked whatsoever a man sows that will he reap. If you sow mediocrity in followership, you will reap ineffectiveness in your ministry because Your seed determines your origin.

 

Thanks for reading, God Bless you.

Thanks for the gift of your time, I am Apeh Francis Abah!

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