Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.-Hebrews 13:17
It’s a commandment, we’re mandated to love our Pastors and to even love other people’s Pastors, too. I don’t know how you do that, pour some encouragement over them, bring them chocolate….
Don’t grieve them, don’t make their job harder? I have this funny image of a pastor passing through the pearly gates and giving an account, holding his head in his hands, Oh Lord, so sorry, that one, that one was just……so thick headed.
“…that they may do it with joy!” That is also one way that we can honor our parents too, even our bad parents. I spoke to a woman who told me sadly, “I can never honor my parents because they’re both in prison for some awful stuff.” Yes, you can, be someone who inspires joy, someone who lifts up others, someone who walks in victory. That’s what all good parents want for their children. That’s what our heavenly Father wants from us. That’s how you honor those parents who sometimes leave you little to hang on to.
A couple of weeks ago a Pastor spoke about how no one had ever given him any trouble while he was speaking….except once, these two teenage girls that wouldn’t stop talking. So he stopped everything and just sat down between them and let his wife lead the rest of the service. Ha! It cracked me up because my first thought was, I sure hope that wasn’t me. It could have been me, it probably should have been me…..
There’s a lot of talk lately about praying for our leaders in a political sense, as in sheesh, do I really have to pray for politicians? Yes, there is some biblical precedence for that, but often lost in the debate is an acknowledgment of who our leaders truly are, who we are really to be turning to for our spiritual guidance.
“….them that have the rule over you..” Those words haunt me sometimes because who we look to, who we love, where we place our eyes, that is what will have rule over our souls.
See, there's this thing called biology... 
At the ripe young age of 50, you’re much too young to speak to a church on behalf of your husband.
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Lol! I guess some of us just have multiple “husband’s” to look after. 🙂
Actually, the church is the bride. That makes me a bridesmaid.
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But you are part of the church so that makes you a bride.
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How delightful! I don’t mind being a bride at all, but I like the idea of being a bridesmaid much better, as in serving and encouraging this crazy bride of ours.
Provided the dresses are not down right ridiculous and neon green or something. 🙂
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I don’t really get why my mom panics about my belief (based on factual evidence) that our U.S. government supports terrorist groups.
So I threw a bunch of stuff again today and screamed at her and dropped the f-bomb. She just doesn’t get that the establishment is crooked.
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Well said…pastors work hard. They need our support and respect. They don’t need us to make their jobs harder.
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Excellent post! A much needed message.
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Reblogged this on emotionalpeace and commented:
Love and pray for your Pastor and their families.
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Amen! Love and pray for your pastor and his family. Thanks for the reblog
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Thanks for this IB. I do love my pastor; he is actually the only pastor I have ever had as an adult. We all should, though. We need to remember why they are where they are, and how they came to be there.
Pastors don’t just wake up and decide to be preachers one day. It’s not what little boys say they want to be when they grow up. They aren’t put there by us either. Oh, we may of course call a particular pastor for us, but…it is God who calls them, not us. We might want to remember that when we turn on them. Remember Elisha and the two bears? Just sayin. Turning on God’s man is mostly a really bad idea. If he is NOT God’s man, then he has to answer for that. Not our job.
Not to say we don’t hold them accountable, just as we do any other believer. They are still people, equal in the eyes of God like the rest of us. Their position does not give them any special consideration.
Just my two cents.
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Great comment, wally.
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too complex for me. let the pastors deal with God. I/ll just have my relationship with Christ
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Lol! I have the perfect pastor for you, you would have loved him. He actually had a church for about ten years and one day he just quit, sold everything, and went to live on the streets. He loved Christ, he just didn’t like the church:-)
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I hope you all keep this up next month when it is officially Pastor Appreciation Month. =)
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great post! love the bit about your Pastor sitting between the girls because they were talking over his sermon lol
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Actually, the post title is misleading. The verse does not say Love your pastor. I says obey him you obey the Lord. Interpretation of This verse has been the cause of so much spiritual and emotional abuse. Not taking out of context, the literal reading and application
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Kia, I’m going to agree with you about how much spiritual abuse has gone on over misappropriations of the words “love and obey.” Wedding vows really. What a tragedy we have so perverted
them, that the very word “obey” raises hackles and makes people think it is an idea completely separate from love.
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Sorry… ib, I was responding to someone else on a different blog. AND got you by mistake. Can you please delete my comment? Mea culpa
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I think I fixed it for you.
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Thx. And again, I apologize for the mis aimed comment
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Oh the gentlemanly grace needed to answer this! Fortunately, God is rich in this department, while I am not, but here goes.
The post title is not misleading, it is ACTUALLY leading towards something, someone. There is no misquoting of the text. It is word for word and clear as a bell. Does the word ‘love’ appear? Yes and no, but the post writer who you are chastising is reminding us that that pastors are to be loved TOO, which apparently is neglected or forgotten.
‘Esteem them very highly for their work sake………..’ and we are reminded elsewhere. ‘Love one another.’ ‘The greatest of these is love.’
Paul said to ‘follow me,’ but he was careful to add: ‘as I follow Christ.’ Was Paul to be loved? Of course, and only a fool would argue otherwise. Any member of the body of the Christ is to be cherished, because of what they do, and because of who they are, as in related to the Head.
There is a tendency rkia, to NOT love people based on how they make us feel. A pastor teaching scripture that rubs us the wrong way may be despised, but the truth must come first. ‘They received not the love of the truth.’ If truth not was not sometimes uncomfortable, it would not be valuable.
So yeah, love your neighbor, love your sister, love your brother, and of course, love your pastor too. No violation of scripture or the spirit of this post.
(But the greater issue: why you pretend to ‘teach’ scripture to people who actually believe it, while you have no use for either it or God who inspired it. Strange. There are a lot of people in this zip code who offer you decency in your rebellion; you may want to remember this when you tire of the shaking fist heavenward.)
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That was really well said, Colorstorm. It’s an incredibly loaded subject, isn’t it? The relationship between love and truth, love and obedience, love and honor?
Something that presses on me, it is really not hatred or rebellion that is the opposite of love, but rather indifference. There are many people walking about shaking their fist at God, all defiant and rebellious, but it’s the ones who are completely indifferent to Him that really bother me. That’s a cold place to park your soul.
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I wish that you were hot or cold kind of thing…………
but yes, your ‘indifference.’ No mans land. On the fence. Limbo. Just blecchh….
That be the case, maybe something to think about and not to take up space here, but would you say then that atheism (since it is so called content free) is one of the greatest forms of indifference?
Btw ms bytes, your last sentence is pure gold.
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You never take up space, Colorstorm. I love your words and the ideas you put forth.
I suppose atheism can be a form of indifference, although those who spend a great deal of time expressing their great offense and anger towards God, are probably not indifferent at all.
I worry more about those believers who really are lukewarm, who kind of shrink the power and authority of God, at least in their own minds. Where I live we have some “churches” that have actually done that, eventually removing Christ’s name entirely, relabeling themselves spiritual centers so as not to offend anyone. As unpleasant as some non believers can be, I much prefer dealing with outright hatred rather than the velvet glove of indifference.
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I can hear it now by the godless: Hey wait a sec, I AM indifferent. Allow me to cherish my godlessness and indifference dang it! Give me my space to promote and defend my life’s quest to stamp out Christianity while I remain indifferent. Ha
But yeah, you are right, your post here targets we the people, at least those of us who make a profession. That indifference is far worse really.
(another nice bookend w-the velvet gl.)
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A good post…but I might have appreciated this more than others because I’m a pastor.
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Loved this. Here a post that may help with the whole obey those that have rule over you issue.
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