So yesterday I likened losing a church ministry position to a bad breakup, which I honestly don't think was inaccurate. As my day went on I realized that there was another key similarity that I didn't expound upon, and that is our duty as believers to have a Christ-like response.
We have all
heard about horrible break up stories where someone did something awful to
someone else. I got a really good deal on my first car because the guy who was
selling it had a wife (or now ex-wife) who got rather angry with him and took a
baseball bat to the front of his car and a pair of keys to the passenger side.
Probably the worst break up in history is that of Samson and his unnamed Philistine wife (Judges 14 and 15), in which after stomping out the bride is given to someone else and when Samson finds out he commits a little arson…and before you know it a ton of people are dead.
Now I don’t think it would ever come to something like that with one of us, but people get ugly sometimes and retaliation isn’t uncommon. You may throw peoples stuff in the trash, tells secrets, belittle others, join the other church of the same denomination on the other side of town…the list could go on forever, and it is very tempting to do something like this to those who have hurt us. However we must remember that Christ modeled that it is possible to show forgiveness. He still died for people as they were doing wrong (Romans 5:8), and when he was mistreated he entrusted God to take care of things instead of himself (1 Peter 2:23). I think if he acted this way with death at the stakes then we can do the same when it’s just our job.
Probably the worst break up in history is that of Samson and his unnamed Philistine wife (Judges 14 and 15), in which after stomping out the bride is given to someone else and when Samson finds out he commits a little arson…and before you know it a ton of people are dead.
Now I don’t think it would ever come to something like that with one of us, but people get ugly sometimes and retaliation isn’t uncommon. You may throw peoples stuff in the trash, tells secrets, belittle others, join the other church of the same denomination on the other side of town…the list could go on forever, and it is very tempting to do something like this to those who have hurt us. However we must remember that Christ modeled that it is possible to show forgiveness. He still died for people as they were doing wrong (Romans 5:8), and when he was mistreated he entrusted God to take care of things instead of himself (1 Peter 2:23). I think if he acted this way with death at the stakes then we can do the same when it’s just our job.
I can’t even
begin to tell you how ugly it was when I had to make the decision to leave the
church I was serving. My family was mistreated, threats were made if I didn’t
comply to the other party’s wishes, and I was left emotionally abused. The
worst part is that to this day I am still positive that I did nothing wrong,
and in the process of everything I tried to do so.
When people
raised their voices at me and spread rumors, I remained like Christ before
Pontius Pilate and kept my mouth shut before accusers. When I started closing
up shop I didn’t just cut and run, I left copies of all the future activities
that had been planned and made sure the youth account ledger was in good order.
Instead of pilfering items, that I worked hard to acquire, I left them in the
churches ownership. And when I was getting the last of my stuff from the office
and a leak started coming in through the ceiling I stuck around and gave a
hand.
In the end I
can say that I am very happy with how I handled things, and I am sure that The
Big Man is too. I hope you can all remember that whether we have a building of
believers supporting us or not, we are God’s shepherds and that means consistently modeling
His way.
Best of luck
to all of you, and God bless!
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