After reading a Charisma Magazine article about how many pastors leave the church every month, which is approximately 1500, I think I’m beginning to realize, from what I can hear and have read, that they’re leaving probably because they had the illusion of some possible personal benefit somehow. i’m confident there was also a dream that they would be benefiting people and the community, which is indeed a noble thing, but somehow the dream seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle of life.

i need to mention that i found a few pastors here and there who left the church and i interviewed them as much as they’d allow, so this isn’t a lot of conjecture and assumption on my part but their actual words. They said that, aside from hoping to impact the community and the world for Kingdom purposes, they also hoped people would love them, endorse them, and (my summary of their words) “pat them on the back”. Upon graduating seminary and then subsequently being hired by a church body somewhere, by having a title and position they would be more effective and there would be hopes for a future serving a church body, but at the core of it all, the magazine article reported they were likely looking for some kind of self-benefit.

i think you and I know something that we have learned the hard way: if we’re waiting on people to congratulate us, pat us on the back, give us a hand clap, or even slide a dollar or two across the table, we will be waiting a really long time. If we are not doing ministry exclusively for Kingdom purposes we will be crushed under the weight of broken expectations and disappointment. You and I know people rarely respond, they just don’t; we know, factually speaking by looking at the weekly donations, that 10% or less actually, monetarily, support 100% of the work of most churches. We know sheep bites hurt and indeed, they bite a lot. For myself, i’ve had several published articles that were popular, for a moment, and a couple went over a million engagements, likes and comments and shares.  But truly, i found out the hard way, if I was waiting for kudos or some monetary increase in order for me to be encouraged and feel ok about myself, I would have long ago died. Out of all of the people who read, follow, and listen, in all this time, less than a handful have actually written to encourage or have given one thin dime. Good thing i’m not holding my breath. I’m not saying that begrudgingly, absolutely not, but what I am saying is, again, if we are holding our breath, waiting from some payoff of some sort for our efforts other than the blessings of God, or hoping for some kind of payoff besides the goodness of God in our lives, then we will be crushed under the weight of disappointment and broken expectations. Jesus is our reward and He indeed is beyond the beyond of any self-benefits hoped for. In light of that …

From Colossians 3 there are four things which are imperative and four persistence’s that are necessary. It is a command (imperative) that we seek, set, reckon, and know:

We need to:

1. Seek what is above, Colossians 3:1.
2. Set our affections. Colossians 3:2
3. Reckon ourselves dead, and that we will stay dead. Romans 6:11, Colossians 3:3.
4. Know we are hidden in Christ, Colossians 3:3, and at no time do we stop being hidden. In the verb “know”, there is an “on and on” motion, implying we don’t stop the process once we know we are hidden. It’s not a “one and done”. Also, as a side note, the Hebrew word for “knowledge and to know” there are 6 investigative words attached to it: what, where, how, which, when, and why, and all six point to the process in the concept of “to know, knowing, and shall know”.

There are four persistences we need to press towards regardless if we get a pat on the back or gain something for ourselves:

5. Persist putting to death, not just desires but what kind of desires but evil desires.
6. Persist to putting off the old man
7. Persist in wearing the new man
8. Persist to not lie

Do you see it? Persist, persist, persist!

Let us, diligently, every day, yield to God and allow his words to persuade us that we would cease being “sons of disobedience” or “being disobedient”, meaning:

stop being obstinate, unpersuadable, and contrary with a heart full of “lip curling don’t want to”.

With every step and every breath, we honor the Lamb, that the Lamb would have the reward of his suffering regardless if those around us endorse us or not. Our focus is Jesus. We do the intricate dance of inductive, exegetical Bible study in order to give/get a right and more clear view of the Christ, in honor of the Lamb. We lay hands on and pray for the sick, maimed, and blind that the Lamb would have the reward of his suffering, for He is worthy of all glory and honor and Power, which means He gets it all and we get none, yet we are included because the Father honors the Son and the Son includes us by the blood. The greater includes the lesser … that the Lamb would have the reward of His suffering, thus we persist and honor the Lamb with every step and every breath. We sing to God in the night hours in honor of the Lamb. We persist and present ourselves to the Lord, like Moses did, early in the morning in honor of the Lamb. We persist and pray our consistent prayers in honor of the Lamb. The Father honors the Son for His sacrifice and He requires all honor and glory and power and dominion be given to the Son, in honor of the Lamb. No other deserves the honor but the Lamb. We persist and give our lives for our wives as Christ gave his life for the church in honor of the Lamb with every step and every breath, that the Lamb would have the reward of his suffering. We persist and breathe His name in honor of the Lamb, we strike out for unknown places with God in honor of the Lamb, our purpose is not to know our purpose but our purpose is to know Jesus in honor of the Lamb, that the Lamb would have the reward of His suffering, with every step and every breath, “omni gradus omni spiritus”, “all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present.”.  All our thinking all our breathing, all our power, and all our forward momentum, that the Lamb would have the reward of His suffering, in honor of the Lamb with every step and every breath. Persist, persist, persist.

i’m Social Porter with Living In His Name Ministries