902) Teaching middle school kids is never dull. Just what you think is a great idea to do with them, they poo-hoo it and, at other times, things you thought they would not be enthusiastic about, they embrace. One such area is games I play with them. The old time-tested games such as Duck, Duck, Goose and Tag are always hits, as is Follow the Leader. Who needs expensive playground equipment when they love the classic activities.

While reading Luke 5:12-16 the game, Follow the Leader, came to mind. In these verses, a man with leprosy came to Jesus, asking for healing. (Remember, if you had leprosy in Jesus’ day, everyone considered you an outcast and that you were being punished by God for something you did or didn’t do.) Jesus heals him and tells him not to spend his time telling everyone but to go show himself to the priest. (Showing yourself to the priest was the only way you could come back into “society”.)

Then Jesus adds a few words that are easy to miss. He tells the man to offer the usual sacrifices to God out of thanksgiving, but to do this so that his actions would be “a testimony to them.” Jesus asks this man to Follow the Leader–doing what his Hebrew forefathers had been doing for generations and that, in doing so, he would show everyone his obedience–which often speaks louder than words.

What are your actions telling others about your Leader you say you follow?