The Pastor's agony

July 8, 2021 (Thursday)

 

As a Pastor I was trained, when one leaves a place… leave. That has been the hardest part of being in the ministry. I have made many wonderful friends who are like brothers and sisters to me. I know how Paul felt when he wrote to the Colossians “I want you to know how much I have agonized for you and for the church at Laodicea, and for many other believers who have never met me personally.” [Colossians 2:1 NLT]

 

The word translated “agonized” is generally translated “struggled.” It is an agonizing struggle. The goal of every legitimate Pastor can be found in the next verse, “I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself.” [Colossians 2:2 NLT]

 

Let’s break it down. People need to be encouraged. There are times and places when people need to be scared and corrected, but those should not be done without encouragement. For that, I have always looked to Jesus. What does that song say? “My hope is found in nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness.” Reality check: sometimes life stinks, we don’t always get our own way, and we can be victims. But the reality is that Jesus shed His blood for our salvation and the righteousness we have is not our own, but His!

 

I’m not a knitter, however my impression is knitting is about patterns and repetition. A good knitter, like my late aunt, could hold a conversation and knit without looking. Once the pattern is learned, it is repeated until it becomes muscle memory. Once the pattern becomes muscle memory the repletion becomes effortless. There are certain patterns we need to constantly repeat. We need to be in God’s Word. We need to be in constant and consistent prayer. As we get the basics down to effortless repetition we grow together as a body. As we practice social graces, we grow in love. Love is the tie that binds us to God and each other.

 

Complete confidence and understanding is essential. If we are not completely confident of the chair we sit in, we will be uncomfortable. If we are unsure of our faith, bad things happen. Jesus made this observation, “The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation.” [Luke 8:13 NLT] And again Jesus taught, “And as for what fell among the thorns, they are those who hear, but as they go on their way they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life, and their fruit does not mature.” [Luke 8:14 ESV] Maybe the most embarrassing way to lose a wrestling match is to be “choked out.”

 

Confidence has to be complete and understanding has to be mature, and maturing. This all goes according to plan. That plan is Jesus. Here seems to be Paul’s point and focus in life, “All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in him.” [Colossians 2:3 CEB] Everything you want and need to make sense of the world, life, and God are found in Jesus.

 

The image here is “hidden.” It is not apparent at a glance. It is not easy to come by. It means serious effort. Paul has a concern, after all the work that people are not going to fall away into the lies of this world. “I’m telling you this so that no one deceives you with convincing arguments…. See to it that nobody enslaves you with philosophy and foolish deception, which conform to human traditions and the way the world thinks and acts rather than Christ.” [Colossians 2:4, 8 CEB]

 

And that is why Pastors panic, worry, or cry when the people do not show up for church. Or as Paul said, “I want you to know how much I have agonized for you…”