Scripture
Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding.
~Proverbs 2:2-3
Quote
Your eyes will give you sight, but it’s your fellowship with Christ and His suffering that gives you insight.
~Ya’akov
The world is filled with arm-chair quarterbacks: people who have all the answers but no practical experience. Thirty plus years ago, I had a friend who ran a business. To be frankly honest, I thought his management skills were lacking. From my outside point of view, things appeared chaotic but then he hired me part-time to help him through his busy season. It didn’t take me long, once I was on the inside, to understand this man was highly competent and he knew exactly what he was doing. He was so confident in his ability that he didn’t waste time trying to explain his actions to others. This experience reinforced the proverb that mother had drilled into my head–“Never judge a book, by looking at the cover.” Sometimes we look at a situation and we think, “If I were in charge, I could clean this mess up and have this organization/company running smoothly.” We call this speculation or perhaps wishful thinking and it comes from our pride.
From the lay point of view, being a pastor looks easy. I remember one year [a long time ago] we had a problem in VBS. I asked the ladies not to wear shorts because the year before, they wore short-shorts, so I simple said, “No shorts.” Come Monday morning, a couple of rebels came in wearing shorts. There attitude was one of defiance, “you are not telling me how to dress.” I just ignored them. One of my senior adult helpers was retired military and he pulled me aside. He reprimanded me for not handling the situation properly. He said, “You need to set your foot down and make an example of these two: send them home.” My answer was, “This is not a ship and I am not an Admiral. I can’t afford to throw insubordinates overboard. All these people are volunteers; they can all go home and will if I’m not careful.” He was a good man and a lot of help; perhaps the best helper in my entire 50 years, but he had no experience as a pastor. This kind of thing happened more than once. I’ve had people give me advice and then get upset because I didn’t take it. From the outside looking in, being the pastor of a church looks easy but don’t let the appearance of things fool you. It is not as easy as it appears.
I understand the lay logic: being a pastor should be easier because your parishioners are praying for you. The problem is, many are praying for you to fail because you didn’t take their advice. Thank God for those who do lift their pastor up daily. I pray for my pastor everyday. I guarantee you, I have spent more time talking to the LORD about my pastor than I have to others. You say, “Well, I only talk to others out of concern.” Yeah, right. You talk to other rather than the LORD because you are having a lineal fowl problem. Your trying to line up your ducks. DBC has a lot of businessmen and I don’t tell any of them how to run their business because I’ve never ran one and I have no experience in the field. I have spent most of my life as a pastor and I’m telling you–it is harder than it looks.
TOP TEN CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PHARISEES
Matthew 23
- They don’t practice what they teach.
- Everything they do is for show.
- They love being honored, put on a pedestal.
- They have an exalted opinion of themselves.
- They are a stumbling block to others.
- They always have an excuse for their sins.
- They have no mercy or compassion on others.
- They are fault-finders and legalist.
- They concentrate on the outward appearance.
- They are hard on their spiritual leaders.
- Sounds like the opening day of dove season here at 1120 Iron Man. Our neighbors are shooting fireworks on every side. Independence is something to celebrate.
- I hope you had a happy 4th of July and God bless you for reading the blog.