I have recently finished studying a Bible devotional book about Malachi. I have enjoyed doing this devotional book because I didn’t know a lot about the book of Malachi before I started reading and studying this book. I also love the connections to the world we live in today. Old Testament books can often be looked at as old fashioned and way too irrelevant for today and therefore don’t provide much input to how we should act in our day to day life. However, many times when a person really takes the time to read and understand the many interactions the people have with God in the Old Testament, it does provide a lot of insight into how we should be acting.
This book really discusses the Israelites and their sometimes fickle relationship with the Lord. They don’t always follow the Word and the laws of the Lord. In the book, we really see how the priests didn’t follow their particular God-given expectations. This showcases that leaders are such an important piece of the religious organizations, and this is because the religious leaders really impact all of their followers. God gives them these expectations and parameters for a very good reason.
One of the questions we were asked throughout the study was “How do you help religious leaders and encourage them?” This was a good question and this question is one I need to be reflective over. I don’t know if I always spend time thinking about my religious leaders and how I can be an encouragement to them. I often think about a few different things I am grateful for when it comes to my religious leaders, but I don’t always take the time to let my religious leaders know my gratitude. I also don’t take a lot of time to think of how the pastors or the religious leaders think or are feeling, and if they even need any encouragement.
I do often find I am more concerned about what the leaders can do for me. I think about how the leaders can pray for me, or ask me about any problems or concerns I may have. I think about how interesting I want the services to be at church, or how great I want Bible study to run for the week. It is all about, I want, I want, and I want. I want to learn a lot from my sermon and from the lessons the pastor brings to me. However, I want it to also be in a fairly timely manner, so I don’t have to get out too late from church.
I also can often believe that pastors should be immovable or not hurt by anything. I believe they are indestructible, and they never experience hurt. Sometimes it can be very hard to think about pastors being human. I think this way too often about some of the pastors I see on a regular basis or my Bible Study leaders. I imagine this is a lot of pressure for them, because ultimately they are human.
I really want to highlight Acts 20: 28-31 which says,
“Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears.”
I love this verse because it is a reminder that there will be leaders who will be tempted with a variety of problems or issues. This will slowly start to take away the leaders who will then impact the other disciples in the group. This is why it is so vital to be an encouragement to your church leaders, so they can continue to fight off these emotional attacks.
The challenge for this week is to spend time encouraging a Christian leader you know in your life. This could be a coworker or a boss. This could be a Bible study leader or even your pastor. This could be a friend you have personally, who you know is really taking a lot of time being a Christian leader amongst their own circles. There is a large array of leaders you may have in life who could be someone you could encourage.
I know one person I really want to encourage is named Jean. She is in charge of the children’s ministry at Trinity where I go to church. I want to encourage her because I believe she does a great job with the kids and working well with all the volunteers. I also am always impressed about how little stress she has when there are big problems that may arise. I am always happy I can be helpful and a volunteer for her.
Colossians 3:23 Blog 