Scattered Saturday Thoughts
Yesterday, I started my Saturday morning finishing details on the Sunday sermon and making sure the scripture readings for each part of the service were in order. I checked my weekly list to be sure I marked off all items and since I put in extra time earlier in the week, I finished ahead of schedule. With extra time, I decided to focus on tasks that top the Monday morning list. Besides writing a new sermon each week, the hardest task is the bulletin article. I avoid it as long as possible and then finally surrender when there is no more time. It is rare for me to start writing before I squeeze the last minute out of my task schedule, but I decided to at least start an article and get a little ahead for next week.
I always fear the subjects I choose are not as interesting to others as they are to me. Controversial articles float the boat for the high-strung and they hope I will rag on the government or someone else who will help start their blood pumping on Sunday morning. Others like devotional topics which sadly for them, are not often in my wheelhouse. I imagine there are complaints I am far more likely to chastise than coddle. On a purely personal level, this is quite strange because I am far from the meanest person you will meet. I hope you will consider that my personal level is where I live and none of what I write I intend to be spiteful or anything other than helpful. I concern myself with leaving good impressions although never compromising truth to make anyone feel better about themselves. The apostle said we must examine ourselves. How foolish would it be for you or me to ignore, leave buried, or continue to cover up what we find? Please consider my most unpleasant activity is exposing what lies beneath the dirt. I am as uncomfortable with it as you. Do not mistake my excitability at the prospects as either anger or glee at what we find.
I spend hours contemplating church issues. I am at times overly perplexed when I do not see proper results. This is especially true when someone’s adverse reaction to solid teaching is beyond my ability to comprehend. I am by no means a perfect person, but I have learned not to fight what God puts in my heart to know is right. My Christian experience makes these instances almost immediately recognizable. It is difficult to cling to those things the Holy Spirit rakes out of your hands. The other side of this is something I experienced a few days ago. A member was resistant and then called to tell me exactly what I just said: “I knew I was wrong the minute I did it.”
Much of the time we must cycle through distasteful experiences to achieve the joy and peace of obedience to the Lord. The hardest and most painful experiences will never be worse than being sideways with Christ. It is always best to consider the motivations your pastor has for insisting that we promptly and righteously deal with sin in the church. Compromise is not an option. You would never mistake this when the scriptures warn that pastors face greater scrutiny in judgment than anyone. I just noted that I spend hours contemplating church issues. The hours would turn into interminable days if I were wrestling with compromises or bad faith decisions.
These are Saturday afternoon’s thoughts. Sunday morning is the respite—unless you start me off with crushing news!
Pastor V. Mark Smith