How can we possibly pick which part of pastoring is hard and which part is “easy”? And yet I would like to address just briefly the hard part of not just interacting with people in a casual or conversational way but in an intentional and spiritual way.
When people come to pastors with their problems it can be overwhelming. We might personally begin to shrink back into ourselves or even have a mini- “panic-attack” inside as we consider the fact that we not only are called by God to be nice to these people and seek to put a smile on their face, but we also are to represent God and speak for God.
It can be a heavy load to consider dealing with their concerns and life issues especially knowing that we have so many times before been “punished” after sharing the truth with people or misunderstood regarding either our motive or what we are saying. When people come to us with their issues it can be easy for us to flash back to a previous interaction with a parishioner or even personal friend or family member and begin thinking that perhaps once again the interaction might go poorly or be insufficient to address their true need.
And yet we are called by God (and equipped by His Word and His Holy Spirit) to not only interact with them in gentleness and with tenderness and compassion but also speak truth to them and help them to discover the hard revelations from God regarding sin and righteousness. As a matter of fact, if we don’t plan on helping them unpack what the sinful vs righteous responses are in their respective and specific circumstances we don’t really need to be pastors or spend time pastorally with people.
Finally here is the reality about helping people through their problems: their problems will not just go away because you met and dialogued, the people you meet won’t change all of their behaviors overnight and your remarks no matter how true will not save, heal or deliver them. But if we speak God’s word to them, connect them with Him and remind them that in their connection to Him they will be delivered through all things and if we pray with them and share God’s never-ending, never-failing word with them, then they will have the opportunity to really have a breakthrough and not merely find a band-aid or a simple emotional pick-me-up.
Dear Pastor, thank you for listening to people. Thank you for taking time to dialogue with them. Thank you for connecting them with God. Thank you for helping them to dig into the Word, talk to God in prayer and walk in the streams of God’s grace. And please don’t shy away from this, for this is exactly what people need from their pastor. May God continue to open doors for conversation and may He fill and use you to be a conduit of His gospel and holy love!
Christ is with us, Christ is in us!
Pastor Michael Johnson 