Why Is It So Hard?

Why is it so hard to be a pastor? Well, first and foremost, I have been a pastor for only 6years. And just recently, I have decided to resign from that post to concentrate on my new mission field, which is raising my children God's way. But for these 6 years, I've seen that the difficulty of being a servant of God in our time did not differ much for those in the Bible time. When Israel had finally settled in the land of Canaan, they were surrounded by idolatry and was enticed to worship their gods. When Isaiah was called to preach the Word of God, the people he was to preached to were hardhearted people and their hearts were not towards God. At the end of Paul's life, he was still fighting against heresy in the church and had to face false teachers inside. Sounds like our time, right? The Church Age is not different from the days of the Old and New Testament. If I may say so, I believe the Bible IS and ALWAYS will be the manual for God's servants...for in It, we find that we're not alone in fighting this tragic battle and how we must fight it. As far as I can see, there are actually 4 areas in this battle. The 1st one will be the religious group that are growing faster as each day passes by. They are not only growing in worshipers but the cultic groups are popping out faster than popcorn themselves! And yet, these groups are not new. They may change their names but their teachings were the ones that Paul and the church fathers had been fighting against during their time. The 2nd one will be the pastors who are no longer afraid of God but instead they choose to fear men. Pastors nowadays are afraid to lose their jobs, because once that happens, the business world can and will not welcome them back because they know nothing about that world. Therefore, out of fear of not having anything to eat, they no longer preach what they're suppose to preach! They water-down their messages so that the church-goers will not be offended. Sin is no longer confronted and instead it is being flaunted for all to see. These pastors are afraid to correct them especially if they are the biggest giver. They no longer preach nor teach, instead, they give stories for their listeners to be entertained with. They make a clown of themselves just so that their listeners will not boot them out of the church. Some of them would even twist the passages of the Bible just to suit whatever they wanted to say. The holiness of the Bible is no longer put into perspective, nor the holiness of their Master put in mind. The 3rd one will be the listeners. If you notice I don't call them Christians because unless they see errors in what they're preachers are doing, then they are not truly born of Christ. The listeners allow their preachers to preach whatever they can as long as they will not be offended by it and their sins are not brought into scrutiny. They choose whom they wanted to listen to and they don't care if it's for the sake of their spiritual growth or not. The listeners had just simply decided to listen rather to think and grow. The 4th one will be "rare few" (as some of them call themselves). It is rare indeed to have pastors preach doctrines and correct sin. It is rare indeed to have people who dares to collide with trend and what people want. It is rare indeed to have people who upholds the truth of the Bible and always preach the holiness of their Master. And I see this as the 4th front of the battle because as rare as these people are, the first 3 fronts are trying to crush these rare few. Just like how Martin Luther was crushed during his time, so are the pastors who are serving their God, rather than their stomach, are being crushed. Yes, it's hard to preach to hardhearted people. It's easier to see money than points earned in heaven. It's easier to feel hunger pangs rather than hear the angels rejoice. It's easier to feel fear of the unknown than see our Father's smile. Therefore, to the rare few out there who can read this message...Don't lose heart! Our Father in Heaven knows our dilemma. He has been carrying people with the same burden from the beginning of time and He's still carrying those same people (though of different race, gender and intensity of difficulty) in our time. As we have read in the Bible, we're not experiencing something new. Let us praise our God for giving the Bible to us to remind us that wherever we are, there will always be 4-fronts in a battle. The question will be, which front will you be. Hope you will ally with us so that we will no longer be the rare-few!

On Being a Christian

The difficulty of being a Christian does not lie with the demands to meet, or commands to be followed. But because we cannot, or shall i say, will not, fully surrender our all to God. Being humans, we know we need other people. And in our way of understanding life and people, we categorized them. We have people in our lives who serves as our Best and Well-trusted friends (people whom we can confide with, tell our deepest secrets and desires), Loyal friends (people whom we can turn to when we're in need or share laughters with, but not with pains and problems), Acquaintances (people we've just met, and are not comfortable to show who we really are), Family and Relatives (people who knows us to well and can predict our actions and words...people whom sometime we feel we can't trust). And how we categorize people, is the same way how we categorize our God. When it comes to spiritual matters, we turn to Him. When it comes to difficult problems to solve, we turn to Him. But when it comes to love, we do it on our own. When it comes to excelling in school or work, we do it on our own. When schedules started getting more hectic as each day passes by, its not the TV that goes out of the window, it's not texting,nor friendster, nor shopping...but God. When a relationship goes from bad to worse, we don't blame ourselves for disobeying God, but we blame Him for causing us to have such pain, then we would start to question if God has indeed loved us.

Deuteronomy 6:5 says "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength." This passage is not a request or a suggestion, but a command. In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was asked by a Pharisee as to "which is the greatest commandment in the law". and Jesus quoted this passage in the book of Deuteronomy.

In this passage, there is no such thing as compartmentalizing things. It says that we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart. The heart here does not refer to the organ which pumps blood. Instead it refers to our emotions...when we're happily doing something, we are to love God. when we're down coz of problem or heartache, we are to love God. when we're filled with unending happiness, we are to love God. when we're falling in love with someone, we are to love God. when our business is growing and it seems that blessings are never-ending, we are to love God. In all of our emotional surges and downfall, we are to love God, for He is involve in every aspect of our lives.

Secondly, it says that we are to love the Lord our God with all our soul. This has to do with who we are. Do you enjoy fishing? Love God whenever you're in the lake. Do you enjoy surfing the net? Love God. Do you love to eat? What is your personality? Are you ill-tempered? Remember the loving God. Do you always fall into sin? Remember that our God is just. Do foul words often comes out of your mouth? Remember that God can hear you. Whoever we are, however we look at things in life, we are to love God, for He is involve in every aspect of our lives.

Thirdly, it says that we are to love the Lord our God with all our strength. When you love someone, it is but natural for us to give them our best. We study hard to show our parents our love for them. We work hard for our children to get the best education the world can ever give, to show our love for them. For those who knows how to cook, we'll cook the best, most aromatic, most delightful food we can come up with to show our love. In the same manner, we are to show our love to God with what we do. Whenever exams come, do we study hard so that we'll never cheat? In choosing the girl/boy of your dream, do you pray so that you'll never settle for less of what God commands? When you sing in a choir, do you give your best so that when people compliments us we can give all glory and honor to God who gave you that voice? When you read the Word of God, do you read it in passing or do you devote your whole attention and time in reading and understanding It? When you pray, do you fall asleep while praying? No matter how difficult or easy doing our best for the Lord is, we are to do it for our love for God, for He is involve in every aspect of our lives.

Our God is not a god who leaves His creatures behind and never cares for what they do with themselves. Instead, the God of Abraham, Jacob and Isaac, is the God who loves, disciplines, blesses, justifies and more.

When we're able to stop compartmentalizing our lives for God, then loving Him will start bringing relief instead of fear. When we start loving God with all our heart, soul and strength, then obeying Him will no longer be a struggle, but will be welcomed and embraced.

Shorter Catechism Question # 1 "What is the chief end of man?" Shorter Catechism Answer # 1 "Man's chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever."

Love God. Enjoy His company. Read His Word and meditate upon it. Talk to Him thru prayer and allow Him to talk to you thru His Word.