In my opinion there is no other job in the world more than working
in the church where who you are is so intricately and intensely related to what
you do.
Whether it’s a music pastor, a speaking pastor, or any other
professional role in the church, it’s impossible to put on a front for long
when your relationship with God is struggling. I’ll be the first to say my relationship with my heavenly
Father is different than many peoples’ seem, but I still know when my heart and
my life are given over the him (when I'm hungry), and when he takes a back seat to other
priorities.
God’s been reminding me that my thought life—that is, who I
am in my heart, or when I’m alone, or when I have the opportunity to make a
decision that only I would know about—is the most accurate indication of the
quality of my relationship with him.
And while there are not really too many calculable marks on which to
judge that, I think there are some.
(Just like there are indications of how other interpersonal
relationships are doing.)
You can ask questions like
- How
much do we talk?
- How
much do I listen?
- How
much do I tell them about my life?
- How
much can I tell them about my life?
- How
much do I know about them?
- Do
I think of them often?
- Do
I feel welcome in their presence?
- Do
they feel welcome in mine?
It feels borderline ridiculous to ask if God, our creator
and heavenly Father and Mother, feels “welcome in our presence,” but remember
the answer to that question does not so much reveal where God actually belongs,
but instead where our hearts are soft enough to remember that he is already
there.
So
today, even if you’re not a pastor, I encourage you to be a light to the world
not just because of what you do, but also because of who you are. Allow God’s presence to wash over your
attitude, and the way you see others—even the way you talk.
Check
out Matthew 5:6. “You're blessed when you've worked up a good
appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.” (MSG)
Stay hungry,
friends!
Tucker