Role models can shape you and make you, or, if they don’t really know what they’re doing, break you. That’s why they’re pretty important to get right. If you devote your life to being like somebody else – and especially if they’re the wrong type of person – you risk becoming something God doesn’t want you to be. Always remember, your ‘heroes’ wrestle with blind spots and character flaws too. Paul said, ‘I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God’ (v. 9 NIV). The same thing with Peter; when Cornelius sent for him, we’re told that as he ‘entered the house, Cornelius met him and fell at his feet in reverence. But Peter made him get up. “Stand up,” he said, ‘I am only a man myself”’ (Acts 10:25-26 NIV). Say a friend starts a business and makes money, but when you quit your job and follow in his footsteps you go broke. Or say a co-worker wears something that looks great on her, but on you the same outfit looks like a sack tied in the middle. The danger in hero worship comes from bailing on your individuality and missing the path God has mapped out for you personally. Some of the lessons God teaches us may be similar. But another person’s gifts, purpose, journey, and time-frame will be different from yours. God is ‘jealous’ about you (see Deuteronomy 4:24). He wants to protect you from anything that would snipe your uniqueness, or threaten your relationship with Him. If you want to be on safe ground, make Jesus your first-and-last role model.

What now?

Ask God: ‘Am I surrounding myself with people who’ll lead me into my destiny? Should any of them change?’