I recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with an esteemed elder , who had pastored for 52 years. I was very grateful and excited to have the opportunity to visit with him and honored that he would take close to three hours of his time to talk with me. As you might imagine we had opportunity to discuss many things during that time, and I won't try to disclose them all here. However, there were a few things that jumped out at me and I would like to share them with you.
After completing a nice meal that he and his wife had so graciously served us, I led in to the conversation with this question. "Elder can you speak to me as a young new Pastor about how a man keeps his peace of mind while Pastoring"? Without hesitation the elder gave me an answer that I was not expecting. He folded his hands together, sat forward slightly, and explained, that I should be careful to never elevate myself in ministry. " Seeing what must have been a bit of a somewhat curious and very interested look on my face, he continued on and began to explain.
You see, excessive focus on one's self elevates a man to a place of unrealistic expectations, both from himself and the people he serves. These expectations become greater than what he can live up to. This creates stress, drives him to secrecy in his failures, and leaves him easily offended. The stress comes when he is trying to perform at a level of "near divinity" which the people have come to expect. He is tempted to hide his sin because he cannot admit his faults or failures with this perceived level of perfection at which he lives. And the offenses come because he feels that he deserves better than what he is getting! And all of this because he built himself up instead of the Lord!
The remedy, the elder said, is for a man to view himself as a servant. When he views himself as a lowly servant he won't build these unattainable expectations. The elder paused and smiled as he said, "you can't knock a man down when he's already on the ground, you can only knock him down if he has elevated himself. Furthermore, you can't offend a servant. When you tell him to go get your water or to wash your feet he will only smile at you, and say, "I would be glad to!" The servant isn't offended because the servant doesn't feel he deserved better than what he got! "
Close to the end of our conversation, he said to me, "Jesus is our example, and he came as lowly as anyone could come. He lived an humble life with the attitude of a servant and was not offended. Not to say he wasn't hurt, for Jesus knew what it was to hurt and even weep, but although He wept he never pouted!"
I left that evening with much to think about, and today I am still thinking … and trying to put it into practice! And although you may not be a minister, the lesson here is good for us all. Each of us should strive to humble ourselves and live a peaceable life, seeking to build up others and be happy that life is really better than this servant deserves. Think about it, if we got what we deserved, we would be lost for eternity…! May we follow the example of our Lord, seek to serve, and consequently avoid much stress and offense!
