It is easy to give in to the
wear and tear of life—to become the professional. It is another Sunday, and time to deliver a
sermon once more. We have no idea who or
how many will show up—or which of those, if any, will give heed to what we say.
Years ago, I heard a story. The young man was awakened by his mother as
she called, “Time to get up and get ready for church!” He rolled over and said, “I don’t want to go
today!” Her response was, “You have
to!” Burying his head in the pillow, he
mumbled, “Why?” She answered, “I’ll give
you three good reasons. Number one: it’s
Sunday and we always go to church.
Number two: I want to go and you always take me. Number three: you’re the pastor!”
Surely, every preacher can identify
with that fellow. There are times when
the alarm clock goes off on a Sunday morning and we would like to throw it
through the window! Honestly, most
Sundays I am happy to get up, and charge full speed ahead, but occasionally
there are those days I feel like I need to be recharged by going back to
bed. Discouragement is a power drain in
ministry and can kill our spiritual batteries if we aren’t careful. Satan is all too happy to assail our minds
with such stinking thinking.
For those moments, I can plug in
some truths, which I have stored in reserve in my Bible. I have written them down across the years
when I need to bring out the jumper cables and connect with Heaven. Here is one of them—a quote by Matthew
Simpson:
“His
throne is the pulpit; he stands in Christ’s stead; his message is the Word of
God; around him are immortal souls; the Savior, unseen, is beside him; the Holy
Spirit broods over the congregation; angels gaze upon the scene, and heaven and
hell await the issue. What associations and what vast responsibility!”
Read that a few times, reflect
on it, and then rejoice that God would call those like myself who are such poor
specimens of preaching to such a high position of proclaiming the unsearchable
riches of Christ! Then, tuck your Bible
under your arm, lift your chin up, and with a spring in your step, energized by
the Holy Spirit, fulfill your responsibility!
It’s a great day to serve Jesus!
No comments:
Post a Comment