Working in the people business can be some of the most challenging careers to find satisfaction. If you think that you are going to change a person, you will quickly find great frustration. People establish habits. People are the by-product of their upbringing and their culture. All the wisdom in the world will often never negate these facts.
Every medical professional has seen it. A person suffering from heart problems is told to change their diet and to exercise. The doctor, who has gone to school almost a decade and then years of residency, explains to them the downfall of their habits. Do most listen to their counsel or do they return to the doctor again showing symptoms of the same problem?
Every school teacher has seen it. They tell the student that they are smart and can achieve, yet what they have known all their life is a culture which has affected how they see themselves. A teacher can often have a hundred affirming conversations, but a student remains behind because they believe that this is the best they can do. Often parents get involved, but it becomes the teachers fault, in their view, instead of realizing that they should be promoting a more healthy home life and culture for their child.
The conversation may look like this:
Teacher: "If only 'little Johnny' would apply himself, he could have so much more."
Parent: "We can't put the burden on 'Johnny' because after all, he's the victim. If you were a better teacher..."
The pastor has seen it as well. We are taught to understand the Word of God, yet after we deliver it we often see little change. Many today come to church more of ritual than quest for understanding. That is a trap of Satan meant to keep you impotent in your walk. We preach against complacency, yet many remain complacent. We open opportunities for greater investment, yet only a few respond. It's at times enough to be maddening, especially when you see a culture of unhealthiness yet the people who are in it are blinded to it.
So in any one of these roles in working with people we are presented with a couple choices.
1. Quit - this is self explanatory
2. Get hard in your spirit - Commit to doing your job and 'to heck' with what they think and say.
3. Reacquaint yourself with why you do this to begin with.
Consider today's verse that gave me pause:
24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil,who has taken them captive to do his will. 2 Tim 2:24 - 26
2. Get hard in your spirit - Commit to doing your job and 'to heck' with what they think and say.
3. Reacquaint yourself with why you do this to begin with.
Consider today's verse that gave me pause:
24 And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but must be kind to everyone, able to teach, not resentful. 25 Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26 and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil,who has taken them captive to do his will. 2 Tim 2:24 - 26
I've sat in the seat of defensiveness. The problem with being here is that you can often fight the very crisis that God has allowed to shape you. The truth is that you can not win in this case, for fighting will allow Satan to destroy you by anger and resentment. He wants you to fight. He wants you to feel that the logical conclusion, when one is not heard, is to terminate the relationship.
Does logic necessarily mean it's God's way?
As believers we must strive to be led by the Spirit even if the results don't feel right. There are times when the Lord must be your vindicator. It does not mean you say nothing, but craft your words to allow God to stand in the gap for you. Man or woman of God, we can not quit. As people of God we must be released. If God has not released you consider that your actions make you as the military says, absent without leave. Now the God who desires to fight for you has to divert his intentions to fighting with you. This only causes a prolonging of your suffering.
When I was in Bible school I was told that to be a successful pastor you must never have friends in your congregation and you need to develop thick skin. Perhaps I remain idealistic, but I believe that the only way a pastor is effective in leading the church as God would call him/her to is to be vulnerable in front of his people. This will get you hurt. Being hurt as a leader is exactly what Satan wants. He wants you to hold people at bay, keeping them at arms length and doing your "job"...
But Jesus would teach otherwise:
If we see anything in Jesus teaching it's a practice of putting others above yourself, becoming second to His being first, and dying to self. It is very difficult to follow the pattern of Jesus when the application of the Christian life and ministry is seen as a job verses a calling to serve others...especially at my own expense.
All you can do is determine to yourself that what is done to you will not cause you to change. What you experience, see and feel can the tool of satan to twist your heart. You must determine that you are going to continue as the Spirit leads and not let the Devil win.
Which brings us to the third point, "Why am I doing this to begin with." Anyone in Christian ministry serves for one major reason, they love God and have experienced His love for themselves. They have experienced the love of God with every sense and have accepted the gifts of God to 'pay forward' to others what God has done in them. To be successful in that practice is to do it exactly like Jesus, "Deny self, take up the cross and follow Him."
To be successful, you almost have to accept the reality of a soldier who understands that the defensive position must be taken and the only way to do it is to put his fate into God's hands and run headlong into the hail of bullets. He doesn't fight to preserve his life, he fights for a common goal. He lays his life down for the cause of winning.
In the sense of believers, we are called to rescue others from the fire. That sad part is that some people like the heat, and don't understand that they are slowly cooking themselves. Yet not all want to remain. We may go to the fire and seek to rescue 100x, but only come back with 1. Lets not look to it as we have failed 99x. Consider that God used you to save the one and commissioned you to return for as many more who will HEAR GOD'S VOICE and repent.
Thats why we do this - to convey the message of the cross - that people can be free.
It's up to God to take that message and change the heart. All we can do is be willing, and rejoice that He gives us the souls that matter.
To return to our text, there will be people who will oppose you. There will be people who slander you. There will be people who do both believing that they are doing God's work in doing so. We who lead must not fight fire with fire. We must stand firm, accepting critics and offering their words before the Lord to prove accurate or not. If accurate, let us not hesitate to adapt. If inaccurate, let us allow them to pass over us like water over a fish. If confrontation is a part of the exchange, determine that you will only speak in a way to 'gently instruct'. This battle is God's, and your pride, ideals and self worth, need to be second to His greater place. The goal is simple - in opposition, let the Spirit of God lead by speaking only those things which empower the other person to lower barriers and be sensitive to the Spirit. Your job is to surrender and let God use you for His glory.
That requires you stepping out of the way.
Amen, PA...we must keep our eyes on God, pray without ceasing.
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