Pastor

He is a guide, a friend, and a companion. He cuts the trail, fends off the enemy, and gently urges the rest of us forward. He calls kindly, but without room for sway, for me to follow as he follows.

He leads, but not by his design. Desiring to please the one who made him, the shepherd’s mind is selfless, loving the sheep like his own, for love of his Master.

 

Yet, the Pastor is a man. He is strong, and often, a bridge for me to see God. Maybe even, a view of what I should strive to be. Yet, sometimes I also see “just a man”. We’re all just a man. If not for the Master, we are all equally vain, equally frail, and equally susceptible. Don’t let pride take you to trial. Look not up to thyself, little man, for though the Pastor fails, so do you. Therefore be loyal, both to him and to God, and show Pastor the love of Christ that he has shown you in the past.

 

Who helps him? I say, certainly not you. Who stands beside him when the wolves approach to take him from our guarding? None. He fights a battle few could understand, or prepare for. Pastor is the target not just for his life, but also for ours. He is hated because we are hated. He stands because we are in danger. Lend your encouragement, as he fights for you. Lend your support as he gives his life for the flock. Lend your heart to the Lord, and He will give it to a Pastor to manage.

 

Sometimes defeat takes man. The troubles that follow are always a different flavour; each as wildly bitter as the others. I don’t appreciate his failure, but I do understand it. For he does not appreciate mine, and yet, he is there for me. I forgive him, as he forgives me.

 

Today I miss Pastor. He’s gone for now: our paths separated by circumstance out of my power. Yet I love him. I always love him. One day, on that great day, we will stand together in victory, as we meet again. Until then though, I will stand now as he showed me stand in the past; that those who come behind will also have someone to give love, loyalty, and forgiveness; that someone will know as Pastor.

 

Do you love your leader today? Do you love your leader’s Leader? Lend God your heart then, and He will place you in the hands of a keeper, a friend, and a mentor. You can call him Pastor.

 

“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” – John 13:34-35