FULL HEADS BUT EMPTY HEARTS

You may have a head full of theological knowledge, but a heart empty of practical compassion. While we do not deprecate knowledge, it must be accompanied by love or it turns to promoting self rather than building saints. John Maxwell put it like this: "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."

I recall participating in a funeral service when I pastored a small church in Charlotte . Some family had asked me to officiate, along with a well-known pastor of a large church in that city--a man whose face was featured on TV and whose voice was heard on radio. As I tried to engage him in conversation before the service, he treated me like a nobody. He barely spoke, and what he said was curt and condescending. My impression was that he was there to do a job and really had better things to do--especially sharing the pulpit with an unknown like me. Perhaps I misjudged him, but you only get one chance to make a first impression and this is what stuck with me.

I have purposed in my ministry to try to show care for the widow, the needy, the uneducated, the struggling--to make time for those who can do nothing in return for me. I don't always accomplish my purpose of edifying others and have fallen prey to exalting self, but then I repent and once more take up the basin and towel. I had rather build up the bruised, broken, and burdened than to use them as rungs to climb on the ladder of ministry success. If I know so much and sound so smart, while making others feel stupid, then what would that peasant Preacher from Nazareth think about me?

Weigh these words from the late Stephen Olford, who was not only powerful in the pulpit, but personable with people.

“Knowledge puffs up, but love edifies.”– 1 Corinthians 8:1

The power of this spiritual truth is evidenced by its practical outworking. The apostle tells us that their “love suffers long and is kind; … is not puffed up; … thinks no evil” (1 Cor. 13:4-5). O, then to excel in this essential. Its secret lies in the work of the Holy Spirit, for He sheds abroad the love of God in the heart of the believer. Moreover, the fruit of the Spirit is love. O, to be filled with the Holy Spirit, moment by moment, day by day.

Then, and only then, shall my ministry be edifying, building up believers in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The love of Christ compels us to live, teach, and preach Christ in love. Holy Spirit, fill me with the love of Jesus Christ.

Olford, Stephen F.. According to Your Word (p. 141). B&H Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.