April 4, 2013
1543
My calling to be a pastor — a
teacher of God’s Word — brings with it an ever-growing joy, but it also brings overwhelming
pressures as well as a few losses. Being
chosen by God since before my birth to teach His Word is the greatest honour
that a human being can be bestowed to live for.
I am eternally grateful for the calling, but I am also troubled. As I’ve said, my calling brings with it pressures
and losses. As a prospecting pastor,
people hold me to a certain standard — the highest of expectations. Unbelievers and even Christians are fooled
into believing that Christians are called to perfection, and that their pastors
are called to an even higher righteous perfection. They have believed a lie. We are called to love. We do not achieve perfection until the coming
of the Messiah and are designated by God’s seal (Revelation 7:2-3). As a prospecting pastor, people expect me to
be the quintessence of perfection — to be as perfect as God Himself. They may not put it in those terms, but when
we fail in small and grander things, we are assumed to be a colossal failure in
the purpose that we are called to serve.
This is another lie. Pastors are
just as human as anybody else, just as all Christians are, and we are not
exempt to failure. The false belief that
we Christians and pastors are exempt to failure is a strange phenomenon. We are no more human than the
unbeliever. God’s expectations of us,
and the pastor, are much more reasonable to achieve than the expectations that
man creates. The reason is this: God has given us statutes and commands that
He not only expects us to follow, but also expects us to fail every now and
again, and the last expectation being the repentance and renouncing of our
sins. Man, on the other hand, mandates
such high and unrealistic expectations (that they themselves are incapable of
acquiring also) and when we, the Christian or pastor, come to failure they offer
no forgiveness and instead offer condemnation and inadequacy. The higher your role in the Church, the more
stringent the commands given by man. The
fact that their expectations are unbiblical doesn’t help either. It is utterly ridiculous, and it brings a
sadness to my heart. We have not only
come into an age of “reason,” but also an age of doubt, deceit, and
discouragement. This calling overwhelms
some modern prospecting pastors, but I dearly pray to God that I do not become
overwhelmed but rather to continue seeking His face and learn more of Him.
There are certain losses that we
prospecting pastors must face. The loss
of friends and family association is inevitable. I have faced this far too often and it truly
pains my heart. It has been the most
difficult thing, psychologically, that I’ve had to face thus far. When I speak in refutation, speaking obvious
words of meekness and loving admonition, they confuse it with
condemnation. They think that because I
gently correct them that must mean I’m condemning them also. That is not at all true. With admonition (instruction) come
realisation, then humility, then repentance, and then renouncing the sin. But being arrogant and stubborn American, we
hate being wrong. I speak Scripture that
people prefer not to hear, for it testifies against their sin, and they assume
that it is I alone who is testifying against their sin. They are sadly mistaken. I do not, will not, and cannot condemn any
human being. Jesus tells us, “The world cannot
hate you, but it hates Me because I testify about it that its works are evil” (John
7:7). God is the ultimate judge when it
comes to condemnation. I speak the Word
accordingly to the Scriptural texts and I experience hostility from the
listeners to the point where I am forced to no longer associate with certain
friends and even family. This is only
the case where the individuals refuse to listen and instead choose to take
offence and debate and argue. If you’re
offended, good; I’m doing my job. But
offending people is not the objective; it is simply peoples’ reaction to God’s
Word. God’s Word is supposed to offend
us because it testifies against our sins, because they’re works of evil. If God’s Word hurts your precious feelings,
then His Word is just doing its work in you.
If you feel a slow, quick, or even unfamiliar (sometimes appearing as
unattractive) change within you, then the Holy Spirit is doing its work within
you.
As
a Christian, we are not to have an argumentative attitude when it comes to our
faith, ergo I am coerced to depart. Then
as soon as I depart, that concludes our friendship or association,
unfortunately. It is truly painful and
is very difficult for me. So I seek the
Lord’s comfort and guidance, and I continue in my studies in the
Scriptures. I realise that when we hear
His Word, we are responsible for it and what we do with it. I also accept that I have no power over
peoples’ decisions, not that I’ve ever tried to force peoples’ decision making. I realise that after hearing the Truth and if
they never choose to believe for the entirety of their lifetime, then they will
inevitably face God’s wrath that we have been warned about in Revelation. While this truly saddens me, I acknowledge
that I have no power in it or over it and have done my duty as a pastor (and a Christian)
by preaching and sharing the Word. Their
accepting or rejecting of it is not within my power, for it’s not even within
God’s power. I dare to say that this is
the beauty of free will.
There is yet another type of loss,
regarding friendship. There is not only
the loss of friendship with somebody, but also a lesser loss in that while we still
remain friends, our association has become minimal, so our friendship narrows
down to a mere acquaintance. The reason
for this is that when socialising with them comes a variety of
temptations. Sex, profanity, gossip,
alcohol abuse, and the likelihood of straying from the path that God has set
for me. So it is better to no longer
associate with them socially, but still remain friends and to be there for them
spiritually when they need me. I always
enjoy socialising with these certain individuals, but I cannot jeopardise my
faith and path with God for their friendship.
As much as it pains me, I would rather lose their friendship completely
than fall from my calling commanded by God.
Becoming
a pastor is the most difficult life transition I’ve had to go through, but it
comes with so many rewards, the large majority of which I still have yet to
experience. It’s not the personal
rewards I’m concerned with, though, but rather the rewards being the many
people that I will touch and bring to Christ and the teaching and counselling
that the body of believers will learn from me.
Those are much more of rewards than the blessings that God will give
unto me that benefit me personally (i.e. financial needs, a woman to marry,
etc.).
No comments:
Post a Comment