For many years as administrator, I would have our faculty and students focus on one theme for the entire school year. I’m sure you’re familiar with this concept. Many schools do year-long themes focused on a truth statement or around a milestone in the history or achievement of the school. I personally have my favorite themes. They are favorite, not for how they resonated with students, but how they resonated with me. One such theme was “Leaders in Training.” For our students, it was a great theme to springboard into many topics that we could cover in chapel and small groups that our student leaders led. The tag line of the theme is what resonated with me the most: how you live is how you lead. Our goal in using this theme with our students was to remind them repeatedly that they are leaders now, and they are leaders in training. We covered many topics such as honesty, loyalty, responsibility, alertness, orderliness, initiative, and dependability. We posted the theme, theme verse, and tag line all over our campus—even above every light fixture!

Even after the year was over, we kept the posted reminders in our classrooms and on an outside wall that students passed regularly. It’s one of those themes that never stops being relevant for teachers or students, and especially for me as the administrator. The theme verse is one we memorized as a student body together: “But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses” (1 Timothy 6:11-12, KJV).

1. This verse clearly denotes that leading (which is what Paul considered young Timothy to be doing) involves saying no and saying yes. Living in default mode will never have a leader leading well because life in default mode is called self-destruction. That’s what sin will do if we let it reign within us. We must flee things, and we must follow things. How pleasing of a leader we are to God lies in what we are willing to flee and to follow. No matter what we choose, we will be leading because “how we live is how we lead.”
2. The key to fleeing Paul’s list of sins in 1 Timothy 6:1-10 is a leader’s application of verse 12. It takes faith to fight the foe, and it takes an eternal perspective to stay grounded in truth each day. Every leader leads based on what he believes and what he values (i.e., how he lives). The best of leaders (those who influence and move people to action) are those most passionate about their beliefs and values. Their model doesn’t even need to make sense (think Chik-fil-A’s Sunday rule); but if the leader is passionate about what he believes and values, he will influence others. In this specific context of 1 Timothy, Paul reminds Timothy that his faith (persuasion in God and His Word) is worth fighting for and that eternity with God is why we live and work in the calling God has given us. Everyone will live eternally somewhere: leaders pleasing God know this and value their influence of others toward that reality. How a leader lives (what he believes and values) is how he will lead.

This theme challenged me every day of that school year, and it still challenges me today. I’m thankful for the reminders on our campus walls. I can’t turn on a light on our campus without seeing this little reminder above every light fixture. How am I leading? Well, the question lies in how we are living. The question is never whether we are leading or not. The question will always be are we living right so we can lead right?