Watch this amazing modern-day depiction of the love story found in the book of Hosea. Practical Idea: Use this video as an intro to God's unfailing love for the church or for a series on forgiveness. Watch Part 2
I was blown away by this. What a way to get across the profound truth about God's love has portrayed in the Bible's book of Hosea.
All pastors make mistakes. To say they should not is to contradict the very Christian doctrines we teach and preach.
While it is true that we hold pastors to a higher standard, should we?
The answer cannot be given with a simple "yes" or "no." The pastor, being human like the rest of us, will do and say things he wished he hadn't. The pastor can have a bad day or even a bad week from time to time. Who among us has not been burdened down by life's demands and not responded in the way he normally would have? Sin infects us all. Even the pastor.
That being said, we do hold the pastor to a high standard if not a higher one. Why? I guess it is because his role as spiritual leader and shepherd of the congregation demands consistent and exemplary behavior. Even so, the pastor is entitled to those "honest mistakes" just like the rest of us.
Where the problem really begins for any pastor is when his mistakes are seen to be "willful." At this point the pastor must listen to his friends who have his permission to speak truth to him no matter how painful it might be.
Proverbs 9:7-12 puts a high premium on such a willingness to see one’s error and admit it. It describes a wise man as one who is willing to learn from his mistakes. When challenged, he resists the urge to get his back up like a threatened tomcat. Instead, correction becomes a faithful friend and a necessary means to improvement.
Famous cancer researcher Dr. Robert Good was a hard-driving scientist with enormous faculty for new ideas. He had the ability to make use of any information he came across.
His colleagues were impressed by the fact that he possessed a willingness to recognize any error in his research and made correction faster than anyone else in medical research. One of his associates said, “Dr. Good never gets married to his hypothesis, so he doesn’t go through the pangs of divorce when one is proven wrong.”
That's a good word for all of us.
Yes, good pastors do make mistakes; "honest mistakes" and "willful mistakes." Only in living each day led by God's Spirit can a pastor live a life pleasing to God. Like you and me, that will not always happen, no matter how he might wish it so. Why? Because as we started out saying, the pastor is human. All pastors make mistakes.
Recent Comments