My choir director, Brian, had an interesting way of approaching a new song. We did not start at the obvious place, like the beginning. “Go to number 5 on page 8,” Brian would say. We’d work on a difficult section of the song at number 5 until we had that down. “Turn to page 12 and we’ll take it from the third measure.” We went to what seemed like, random sections, and worked on parts of the song. Finally, “Let’s take it from the top.” We would turn to page 1 and start the song. The first part of the song was pretty easy, but as we got to the more difficult sections, we had the advantage of having worked on these with a trained guide, our choir director. What we worked on were not random parts, but were difficult sections that needed extra attention. Once we had sung the whole song together, we went back and worked on the difficult parts some more until we could do them confidently.

This is a good analogy for the journey to purity. Once the Holy Spirit has convicted us, and we listen to the prompting, we can start into the healing process with a group and a leader who has been through the battle and has freedom. As we did in the choir, we work on one issue at a time. Each issue is a challenge. The attraction to sexual immorality is not one issue, it has many component parts. You get to work on these difficult issues with your group. How would it sound if you performed a song and all you sang was the part you practiced on page 8 and 9? You performed it well but it was incomplete. Likewise, once you have worked on some purity issues and think you’ve got it, you will discover there are still some rough spots. You can go back and work on those with your group just as we did in the choir. A rough spot may be getting through the first Christmas holiday season as a pure man. You were doing pretty well from September to mid-December, but realized you are going to need to have a plan for changing circumstances. Accept the process. You have been at this a long time, and it will take time to get free, but you will. You can win in this battle with God’s strength.

1 Timothy 6:11- But as for you, O man of God, flee these things. Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. (ESV)

Photo by aleksandr Ovchinnikov on Unsplash

14 thoughts on “Benefits of a Good Leader”

  1. Love this short post Dave! But there is so much in there. We can only tackle one issue at a time, or we will get overwhelmed and just can’t move forward in a healthy way. Sexual purity is certainly one of those things that takes a long time to recover from, but your post is so applicable to other difficult life events as well. Thanks for sharing!

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  2. What a great way to approach learning the new song. This method does teach us so much. And a good leader does find ways to teach/show methods that make it easier to learn. PS, I love your photo because I love Mountains and snow.

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  4. It can be so difficult when we think we’ve mastered a sin only for it to once again come back as a temptation. I’m so thankful for God’s grace and mercy! It’s frustrating to know we will always fight against our sin nature, but that also makes me live in awe of God’s forgiveness!

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  6. “What we worked on were not random parts, but were difficult sections that needed extra attention.” This is exactly what we tend to neglect in our struggles, but it is vital to overcoming them. Thanks for the honesty and the encouragement to keep fighting the good fight!

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  9. I think this definitely applies to our walk with God – He has us work on one thing at a time. He knows how we are made & what we can handle.

    Cool analogy – brings some memories back for me – from my years in choir.

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  11. Good thoughts, Dave. There is something to be said for having small wins to build confidence, but real victory is in the difficulties. Your analogy with the choir director is spot on. Thanks for sharing.

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