Life’s Calling

2009-05-09

“And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant” (Matthew 20:27).

Only the one who firmly believes this verse is the one who ought to consider being in Christian leadership. We have a lot of good theologians in the church today, and this is great. But sometimes these are just not the right people for the job to be pastors.

Do not get me wrong; an elder or a pastor needs to know a lot about the Bible. But ministry is about people: does a man know how to love people? Does he have proven experience as one who loves his family and loves others around him? Unless you truly love both God AND people, do not even think about going into full-time ministry. Even then, after you have determined that this is the only motive to serve the Lord in a full-time capacity in a church or ministry setting, then you need to examine yourself in the light of 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. James was not joking when he said, “be not many masters [teachers]” (James 3:1).

Don’t think for a moment that in order to serve the Lord, you need to be a leader, however. We are all “full-time” in a sense, because we do not stop belonging to the Lord at work, at school, or at leisure. Take heart that you have an integral part to play for the Lord even though you are not the one who is teaching and preaching.