Pastors do not have easy lives.
Pastors give their whole selves to their congregations. They are a listening ear to the ailments, sorrows, and struggles of not only their own family, but a body of fifty people or more. They are asked for advice. They are expected to have the answers. They bring the requests of hundreds before the Lord in prayer.
They drive however long it takes to visit one of their flock in the hospital, sometimes on request -- sometimes only because they know they will be needed. They pray with the sick who are at home.
They labor all week to prepare their expositions of the Word of God for the people of God. They stand up twice a Sunday to teach their congregations that Word, only to wonder in their weariness at the end of the day whether it was any use.
They are in the public eye. They are held to greater standards than others. Their delivery styles are evaluated with that of other pastors, their empathy skills questioned, their intentions doubted. They are rarely thanked.
And all this is because they heard a call -- a call to preach salvation to the lost.
This is not all pastors. But it is many whom I know. It is my father.
When you find it easy to criticize a pastor, think for a moment of all that he has on his shoulders. He is a man, just like you. Yet he has more expected of him than many, many men. He has duties you do not realize. Toil you never see. Sleepless nights you never know.
He is called to be God's servant.
"If a man desires the position of a bishop [pastor], he desires a good work..." - 1 Timothy 3:1
YOU ARE READING
Verity's Book 2.0
RandomBecause I'm the worst at coming up with inventive titles... New random book. Mostly the same stuff. I'm a hectically busy girl adjusting to the perks of adulthood (buying your own personal block of cheese at the store, amirite?) and enthusing over t...
