John Markum

Tag: good

Pastors: Why be a Pastor?

Posted on by johnmarkum

“If any man desires the office of an overseer, he desires a good thing.” 1 Timothy 3:1

I am blessed to lead a single’s ministry full of young adults who want to glorify God with there lives, many of them considering whether God wants to use them in full time ministry. And it is in that spirit that I want to share some thoughts on why someone might want to do that.

First of all if you’re even thinking about going into ministry, you need to know all the down sides. This is by no means a list of perdonal complaints about ministry, so don’t assume. I love my calling as you will see. On that note, this is a little depressing…

  • You will bear a stricter judgment before Christ. You will answer not only for your personal words, thoughts, and actions, but for the stewardship of your influence, creativity, and teaching.
  • Deciding to be a pastor is not a good “career” choice. It’s not lucrative. It’s not like you’ll work on commission… and chances are, as a pastor, you will live paycheck to paycheck most or all of your entire working life.
  • There’s little room for advancement… you don’t become a CEO Pastor, and if there was such a thing, it would only mean that you are responsible for serving more people.
  • The hours are terrible. You will (almost) never have a weekend off. And expect phone calls at any given hour of the night requiring you to leave the warmth of your bed in the middle of winter.
  • Marital strain. Ministry puts intense pressures on a marriage and family, that you would not experience otherwise.
  • People will hurt you. And not just “bad” people. Sometimes people you thought were “getting it” will turn on you though you’ve invested your time, heart, and energy into them.
  • Temptations are high. When you raise your hand and answer the call, Satan paints a bulls-eye on your back. Most of the pastors and church leaders who fall to immorality were good men  and women at one point. Don’t think you’re any better than they once were.

Now after all of that, why would you want to go into ministry?!? Well, for one…

  • There is no other individual effort that could be more rewarding. Seeing people far from God awakened with life in Christ is satisfaction enough.
  • You get a front row seat to the power of God in people’s lives.
  • You get to work for the most understanding, competent, encouraging, equipping Boss ever! Period.
  • There is incredibly high accountability, spiritually, as dozens (or hundreds, or thousands) of people are looking to you as a spiritual example.
  • The retirement plan is insane! (John 14:1-3)
  • There will be people who circle around you, pray for you, encourage you, lift you up, and work with you. The joy that comes from these individuals is irreplaceable.
  • Your marriage can be strengthened by the ministry.
  • Your kids can get a first-hand account of what it means to see God move.
  • God promises reward and favor to those who serve Him. (Isaiah 52:7)

Ok, so that’s like, nine. But my point is that there is no higher human calling. I heard someone once suggest to Billy Graham back in the day, that he should run for president, to which he replied, “Sir, I would not dare step down from preaching the message of the Gospel to rule over any nation.” If you are considering ministry full time, there are many avenues you could take. More on that coming. But if you could possibly find fulfillment doing anything else, pursue that. But if it seems like God just won’t leave you alone about it, then you might be one that He has anointed to preach His word.

Blessings,

John

The GOOD in man

Posted on by johnmarkum

I have to retrain the way I see people. Allow me to explain…

Church, as I have known it for the majority of my life, has had a bad outlook on humanity at large. From a spiritual standpoint, we would argue the “depravity” of mankind as evidenced by our observations of society. The world is full of sin, crime, hate, and immorality. To be sure, Scripture supports that condition of the world. But what is so startling, is that according to the Gospel that Jesus-freaks like me claim to believe, God loves this world. Not to say that He loves what this world is doing to itself, but He nonetheless loves “the world.” Every stranger to me, every rude person in traffic, every loud mouth in the checkout line ahead of me wasting my time, every adulterer, liar, white-collar criminal, religious hypocrite, drunkard, and promiscuous teenager is a soul that God values.

Counter to what some Bible “scholars” may state, there is something in humanity that God loves, desires, and finds good in. Genesis 1:26 tells us that God created man “in His image,” and despite the sin, rebellion, and brokenness of our planet, God finds something good in each human being simply because we bear His image. Marred, muddied, and cracked as it may be, we resemble our Creator. While no amount of noble attempts can change our eternal destination apart from Christ, there are moments of good in human beings: charities to cure disease and provide sustenance, strangers helping strangers, even little courtesies hint of the moral conscience imbued to man by their Creator. And sinful and broken as man may be, God finds pleasure in cleansing, restoring, and remaking His fallen creation into the image of His Son.

On a personal level, what does that mean for me and you? Do I tolerate all of the “miserable sinners” that make up my world? Or do I see inside of each stranger that I encounter the image of their Creator who loves them beyond human comprehension? Do I maintain an us/them mentality to the world? Or do I realize that according to Ephesians 2:1-5 that I am the same as them apart from Christ?

When I choose to see the image of God in every person, I am better enabled to love them like Christ loves them. And my ability to share the Gospel, and effectiveness in doing so increases. We often say that we want to see people the God sees them… so why don’t we?

 

John

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