Category: Christian Living

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Because Jesus Sits, I Can Stand

This article was originally published at The Focused Pastor, a ministry of Focus on the Family.

I vividly remember one of the lowest moments of my life. I was standing in a bathroom stall, breathing into a paper bag, and crying out inaudibly, “Jesus, help me.” I could hear my fellow seminary students light-heartedly laughing and visiting as they came in and out of the bathroom. The excitement of a new school year, a new opportunity to study God’s Word, buzzed even in the bathroom. But I was locked in a stall, breathing into a paper bag. It was the only way I could get my breathing under control again, recommended by my doctor, as mild panic attacks would strike at the most inconvenient times.

Other than death or divorce, my wife and I had experienced every major stressor in life in the weeks leading up to those moments. We had moved a thousand miles away from a loving home church and fruitful ministry into a sprawling metropolis where we knew nobody. Just before moving, we had lost most of the savings we had scraped together due to a major car repair. I had looked for work for months, only to have all my leads fall through just as we moved. Our first child was due in a few months. I ended up in the ER, unable to breathe normally, and to my surprise, they explained it was from a panic attack.

When they would hit, I would cry out to God, running to Jesus for help. I knew He was alive and active in heaven today, interceding for me. I knew that he could hear my cries and that he could actively help me. I couldn’t articulate it this way at the time, but I knew I could stand because Jesus was seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

Pastoral ministry often means being in the middle of a crisis, leaving a crisis, or heading into a crisis. I don’t know what stressors you have been through recently, but I know this: because Jesus sits, you can stand.

The book of Hebrews puts great emphasis on Jesus being seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Five times, we read that he is seated, and five times, we find a reason that we can stand in both life and ministry.

I Can Stand Because the One Who Holds the Universe Together is the One Who Died for My Sins

We usually think too little of Jesus. But Hebrews reminds us of his preeminence: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high…” (Hebrews 1:3)

One of the great struggles I had when panic attacks first became a problem for me was guilt. I felt like I was letting God down by giving in to anxiety—and this only added to my anxiety. I would break down in tears: “I feel like I’m failing God.” I realized that instead of making my success in waging war against anxiety a marker of my relationship with God, I could run to Jesus for refuge.

Jesus is not only all-powerful but also all-loving towards those who belong to him.

I Can Stand Because Jesus’ Enemies Are My Enemies–And They Are All Defeated

God is defeating all of Jesus’ enemies, as prophesied in Psalm 110:1: “And to which of the angels has he ever said, ‘Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet’?” (Hebrews 1:13) When I realize that all of Jesus’ enemies are my true enemies and that they are all defeated, this brings great comfort to my soul and peace to my mind and heart.

My biggest enemies—Satan, sin, and death—are all subjugated to my Lord, and that helps me to stand today. Just four months after being diagnosed with panic attacks, our first son was born—and complications kept my wife in the hospital for ten days. There was one moment when they wheeled her out for some urgent tests. I looked back in the hospital room and saw my mother holding our five-day-old son, and looked ahead and saw my unconscious wife. Fear gripped my heart. But anxiety did not, because I remembered that Jesus our Shepherd had walked through the valley of the shadow of death and come out a victor on the other side.

I Can Stand Because the Only One Who Can Bring Me to God Does So 24/7

Our final high priest will never die and never retire: “…he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever. Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.” (Hebrews 7:24-25) Jesus lives to bring you to God all day, every day. “Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 8:1)

Anxiety’s twin, depression, visited me briefly about one year later. I remember one especially emotionally painful walk at the park with my wife and little son. I was trying to explain to my wife how the darkness would sometimes just come over me when I suddenly felt paralyzed by fear. I wanted to be “normal” again. When would I come out of this valley? All I could articulate as we circled the walking path was that I knew God was holding onto me—but I didn’t feel it.

Even when the darkness visits us, even when we can’t explain it, even when we don’t know when it will end, we can rely on the fact that the Father always answers Jesus’ prayers and that Jesus is talking to the Father about our struggles today.

I Can Stand Because No Other Sacrifice Is Needed to Make Me Right with God

“And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God…” (Hebrews 10:11-12)

Jesus being both my final sacrifice and also my final mediator before God is a fact that has continued to help me in my battle with anxiety, almost two decades into pastoring. There have been times in ministry when the stress of conflict in the church has been overwhelming, and I have begun to feel shortness of breath again.

At this point, I have learned to pick up the weapons of the Word of God and prayer. Sometimes, I will ask my wife to pray for me. Many a night I have finally fallen asleep after the sharp sword thrust of a Psalm and a simple prayer defeated the warring thoughts in my head: “I believe—help my unbelief!”

This direct access to the Throne of God and this lifeline of God’s peace is possible only because my mediator is also my sacrifice. This truth also reminds me that I am not God. I am only human, and physical disciplines like exercise and rest help all humans—including pastors—deal with stress in a healthier way.

I Can Stand–and Continue to Stand–Because of Jesus’ Endurance for Me

I can endure (Hebrews 12:1) because Jesus endured the cross (Hebrews 12:2). “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus…who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

Because Jesus sits, I can stand—and keep standing—facing each day, knowing he is mine. Whatever happens in pastoral ministry, you have a Savior who sits in triumph for you.

Your Savior and Shepherd hear you when you cry out, “Jesus help me!” It doesn’t matter if it is from a seminary bathroom during a panic attack, your office as you slog through the day, during an especially thorny counseling session or conflict, or your bedroom when you can’t sleep at night because of everything on your mind.

Because Jesus sits, you can stand.

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God’s Delight in You

This week I have enjoyed sharing a daily devotional that I originally wrote for Lifeway’s “Open Windows” devotional guide. I hope you have been encouraged in your faith by these short meditations!

Proverbs 3:12, “For the LORD reproves him whom he loves, as a father the son in whom he delights.”

I remember it like it was yesterday. The offering plate came down my row and my 5-year-old fist held tightly onto the quarter in my pocket that my parents had given me to put into the offering. My older brother saw it all happen and reported it to my parents the second we got into the car after church. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I realize now that it was because he loved me that my father disciplined me when I got home. The next Sunday, I understood that giving was an act of worship and threw the quarter in the offering plate when it went by. Correction had done its work.

If my father had known about me holding onto the quarter and yet done nothing, that passivity would not have been an act of love. Leaving me in my selfishness may have made me more susceptible to greed later in life.

Adults don’t like discipline any more than kids, yet we are all corrected by our Heavenly Father for our own good. God always knows the discipline we need.

God’s correction in our lives through friends, family, pastors, and the prompting of the Holy Spirit is evidence of His love for us. Our Father’s correction is a sign of His delight in us.

Father, thank You for not leaving me in my sin but using Your discipline to conform me more to Jesus’ image.

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Jesus, Perfect Image of Life

This week I am sharing a daily devotional each morning that I originally wrote for Lifeway’s “Open Windows” devotional guide. I hope you are encouraged in your faith by these short meditations!

1 John 4:9, “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.”

Do you ever struggle to feel that God’s love is for you? Do you ever wonder if God is paying attention when bad things happen? Then you are human. Fighting to believe God’s love for us is part of the walk of faith that will continue until our pilgrimage to heaven is complete. It is in those moments and seasons of difficulty or doubt that the best thing for us is to look to Jesus and what He did on the cross.

“Magic Eye” pictures were all the rage in the ’90s. If you looked at a colorful design with the right squint of eye, a picture would practically pop out at you. A bunch of random geometric patterns would suddenly look like a 3D completed image. Looking at Jesus as we go through life is a little bit like that. We may not understand everything about life and God’s purpose for us now, but we will see a fuller, richer picture of life when Jesus is in view.

How was the love of God manifested to us? “God sent His only begotten Son into the world.” The greatest demonstration of God’s love is that He sent Jesus into a world that would neither recognize Him nor accept Him as the Redeemer. Still, God sent Jesus–for you.

Father, when I question Your love, point my eyes to Your only begotten Son.

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To Know and to Believe

This week I am sharing a daily devotional each morning that I originally wrote for Lifeway’s “Open Windows” devotional guide. I hope you are encouraged in your faith by these short meditations!

1 John 4:16, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”

It is one thing to know a fact, but it’s another thing entirely to believe that fact. I may know that exercise is good for me in an intellectual way. But when I get outside and go for a run, I show that I believe that exercise is good for me. Knowing I should run usually keeps me on the couch. Believing I should run has helped me to finish a marathon.

This distinction is especially important in love. A wife may know that her husband loves her because of his marriage covenant with her, but she believes it when she sees him sacrificing for her. A child may know that his mother loves him, but he believes it when she hugs him after he falls down. It’s important to know that you are married or who your mom is. Knowledge brings crucial assurance of our relationships. But believing that those relationships are good for you is necessary to feel love.

John wants the readers of 1 John to both know and believe the love that God has for them. The gospel tells us that God is love, but putting our faith in Jesus means that we believe His love is for us. Know it. Believe it. Feel it. God loves you.

Father, looking to the cross changes me. Help me to both know and believe Your great love for me.

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No Need to Change the Past

This week I am sharing a daily devotional each morning that I originally wrote for Lifeway’s “Open Windows” devotional guide. I hope you are encouraged in your faith by these short meditations!

1 Corinthians 15:8, “Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.”

The other day I came across some pictures of my daughter when she was about 6 years old, and I found myself wishing that I could hear her little girl voice and see her play dress-up again. We all have times when we wish we could relive something, stepping back in time.

Yet at other times, we wish we could roll back the clock to undo something we have done. If only we could not do that sinful action that hurt so many we care about.

The apostle Paul likely wished for both at times. On the one hand, he wished he could roll back the clock and be there when Jesus appeared to the other apostles. Yet he also wished that he could go back in time and not persecute the church. But neither was possible. And neither was needed. Paul knew he couldn’t time travel to be one of the Twelve who walked with Jesus. He also knew he couldn’t change his actions of persecuting the church before knowing Jesus. Yet the words of 1 Corinthians 15:8, in the context of the great resurrection chapter, give us hope.

The cross and resurrection don’t change the past, but they do change today and our forever. Because of the gospel, I can move forward in hope.

Father, I glorify You. Your gospel gives me forgiveness for my past and new mercies for today and tomorrow.

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The Resurrection Decimates Fear

Over the next week, I will be sharing a daily devotional that I originally wrote for Lifeway’s “Open Windows” devotional guide. I hope you are encouraged in your faith by these short meditations!

Matthew 28:10, “Then Jesus said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me.'”

“Do not be afraid.” These are words that we see often in the Gospels. Jesus said this phrase to His disciples so many times that they must have grown to expect to hear it whenever something terrifying happened or whenever they saw His glory.

But the most enduring time that Jesus said, “Do not be afraid,” was when He said it as the resurrected Lord. The resurrection had truly changed everything, including fear. His “do not be afraid” refrain spoken to the women at the tomb that first Easter morning echoes down to us today.

No matter what it is that is causing fear in your life, the resurrection speaks hope into that situation. It reminds us that we have a risen King reigning in heaven today who cares for us in our trials. It reminds us that our final enemy, death, has become our servant that will take us into the presence of our King and into eternal joyful fellowship with the saints who have gone before us.

Truly the resurrection decimates fear. Be encouraged by the words of Jesus: “Do not be afraid.” Trust in God’s plan.

Father, thank You for these fear-destroying words from Jesus that change everything.

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He Is Still Risen!

Over the next week, I will be sharing a daily devotional that I originally wrote for Lifeway’s “Open Windows” devotional guide. I hope you are encouraged in your faith by these short meditations!

Acts 2:32, “This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.”

For some, the Monday morning after Easter can bring mixed emotions. Some may wake up with resurrection songs in their hearts. But others wake up with a bit of a low after the high of Easter morning. Back to work. Back to the doctor. Back to the same relationship problems.

However, Jesus is not only risen on Easter. He is still risen today. And that makes all of the difference in the world.

In Peter’s Pentecost sermon in Acts 2, he pointed to the confirming miracles and signs his hearers knew about. He also quoted King David’s prophecies about the Christ in Psalm 16 that Jesus fulfilled.

But the greatest proof of Jesus as Savior was that those Peter preached to had either seen Jesus raised to life or knew people who had seen Jesus alive after the resurrection. Peter didn’t hesitate to proclaim to thousands, “we all are witnesses” of Jesus’ resurrection.

The grave could not hold the Savior. Jesus had died, but as the prophecies and many eyes confirmed, He was alive again. Keep that in mind on this Monday morning.

Christ is still risen. He is still risen indeed!

Father, help me to rejoice in and believe in the resurrection of Your Son, today and every day.

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Four Blessings to Ask God For in 2025

This article first appeared at Small Town Summits Articles.

Father, as we sail out upon the unknown waters of 2025, we are reminded of past years that held joys and trials and we are a bit weary. It could be a year of smooth sailing and joy that easily points us to you, the giver of all good things (James 1:17). But life in this fallen world is so uncertain. What life-changing squalls could hit with hardly a moment’s notice?

Jesus, we know that you are our captain and that you are Lord over the storms. So, with you in our boat, we cry out to you, asking you to work in our lives, our church and our family in 2025.

We ask these things with boldness, knowing that the same Jesus who heard the cries of the disciples and asked where their faith is hears us today (Romans 8:34). Jesus, we believe—help our unbelief (Mark 9:24)! We serve you in faith, believing that you not only exist, but that you reward those who earnestly seek you (Hebrews 11:6). Lord, may you be our reward as we seek you today and look ahead to 2025.

We ask for four blessings from your hand in 2025—hope, peace, joy, and to see Jesus’s glory.

Give Us Hope

Give us hope that you are working all things for our good (Romans 8:28). Give us hope that you are forming us to look more like Jesus even though we get so impatient with our progress in sanctification sometimes (Romans 8:29).

Give us hope that the Word is doing its work in other church member’s lives and that you are at work in our community even when we can’t see it (Mark 4:26-29). Give us hope that you will never abandon your church (Matthew 16:18) and that you will use us, but that gospel ministry is not reliant upon us (1 Corinthians 15:58).

Give us hope that you are cheering my spouse and I on each time that we move towards each other (Song of Solomon 5:1b). Give us hope that you are working in my spouse’s heart and life and that you are forming his or her character into a beautiful work of art that belongs to you (Ephesians 2:10). Give us hope that you hold each of my children in your hands and that no one can snatch them out of your hands (John 10:28-29).

Give us hope that you can do more than we can ask for or imagine in our walk with you, in our church, and in our family in 2025 (Ephesians 3:20-21)!

Give Us Peace

Give us peace, knowing that we can sleep because you never sleep, always watching your own (Psalm 121:3-4). Give us peace as we navigate our own doubts and fears (Matthew 10:31). Give us peace that can only be found in knowing you personally, as we pursue you even more than we have in past years (Psalm 119:10).

Give our church peace in conflict that may arise in 2025, and give us a heart to seek the unity of the Spirit (Ephesians 4:3). Give us peace as we navigate the complexity of being believers in today’s world (2 Corinthians 11:28). Give our church a greater measure of the peace that comes from resting in Jesus (John 14:27).

Give my spouse and I peace if financial or health or extended family situations arise this year that add stress to our marriage (Isaiah 26:3). Give our home peace and may our children and grandchildren grow in enjoying their relationships with each other (Psalm 133:1). Give our children your spiritual protection from the evil one, so that they can experience the peace that comes from walking with you in a tumultuous world (John 17:15).

Give Us Joy

Give us joy, knowing that joy is always available in Jesus regardless of what circumstances may come in 2025 (John 15:11, 16:20). Give us your joy in the happy days, and the eyes to see the world as a place where your beauty and power are constantly on display (Psalm 24:1). Give us joy in trials, knowing that you have not abandoned us and are producing Christ-like character in us (James 1:2-3, Romans 5:3-5).

Give our church joy so that when unbelievers visit, they will want this joy that the world cannot offer (Luke 2:10). Give our church joy that is not surface-deep but rather that is deep like a glacier, because it is joy in God (2 Corinthians 1:24). Give our church joy that is Spirit-produced as we worship the living God on Sunday mornings together (Psalms 4:7).

Give us joy in our marriages, as we seek to enjoy life with the spouse you have given us (Ecclesiastes 9:9). Give our spouses joy in their day-to-day responsibilities and in their ministry opportunities (Romans 15:13). Give our children joy through spiritual tastebuds that savor Jesus rather than sin (Psalm 16:11).

Give Us Jesus’s Glory

In the same way that Moses did not want to move into the Promised Land without viewing your glory (Exodus 33:14-18), we don’t want to move into 2025 without a fresh view of Jesus’s glory!

Give us Jesus’s glory in our times of Bible reading and prayer in 2025, so that we can take a spiritual drink and be satisfied (John 7:37-39). Give us Jesus’s glory through seeing your salvation in our personal witnessing with friends and community members (Luke 5:25).

Give our church a view of Jesus’s glory that is so breathtaking that they will want to run from sin (1 Peter 1:13-16). Give our church the focus that church is about Jesus’s glory, not their preferences or ease (1 Thessalonians 5:14). Give our church such a sense of Jesus’s glory on Sunday mornings that they will long for the next time of worship together (2 John 1:12).

Give our families a view of Jesus’s glory that comes from having a privileged front-row seat to your work in so many lives (Acts 2:43). Give our children Jesus’s glory so that they have mountain-top spiritual experiences, but also we ask that when they come down from them that they will have eyes for Jesus only (Matthew 17:8).

Father, we recognize that we don’t deserve any blessing from you. But we also know that you love to give good gifts to your children (Matthew 7:11). So, we are asking you today to give us, our family, and our church four things in 2025: give us hope, give us peace, give us joy, and give us Jesus’s glory!

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Three Ways to Minister to a Family Who Has Had a Miscarriage

Note from Tim: I originally published this article at The Focused Pastor.

We were overjoyed when my wife first showed me the positive pregnancy test. Ecstatic. It was hard to believe that in 7 1/2 short months, we would be holding our baby. Since I was a pastor several states away from family, we wanted to make this announcement really special. That Friday, we bought the books What Grandparents Do Best and What Aunts and Uncles Do Best to send in the mail. We planned to write notes over the weekend to accompany the books so they would be ready to mail on Monday. But Saturday morning, we were in the E.R. We were having a miscarriage.

What would you say if you received a call from a grieving husband like me? How would you help him and his wife as they went through this time?

 Miscarriage is a difficult situation for many reasons. The pain is deep, and especially when a couple has not announced the pregnancy, they may conceal that pain. However, as a pastor or church leader, if you hear of a couple in your church that has had a miscarriage, God has given you that knowledge so you can share and show His grace to that couple. Here are three ways you can meet them with hope.

1) Acknowledge it as a death and loss.

As pro-life people, we acknowledge that every human life has value and dignity (Psalm 139). We can be strong on abortion being wrong, and that is a good thing. But we need to also be strong in acknowledging that what we know to be true about human life in the womb means that a miscarriage is a loss of human life. 

Because a miscarriage is earlier on in pregnancy than a stillbirth, sometimes others do not even know that the couple was expecting.1 Many parents who experience a miscarriage suffer silently, and when they do open up about a miscarriage, they need comfort and acknowledgment of this loss. Ignoring it hurts. Moving toward them in a phone call or setting up a time to meet if they would like can mean the world as they deal with the grief of shattered expectations and hopes for that new life. It is important to involve your wife in these conversations as it is also an opportunity for her to minister. When that is not possible, it is helpful to get permission to share it with a trusted woman or two in the church who will reach out to the mother so she has other Christian women to talk with about her loss.

Simply praying with them may be the pastoral care they need during that season. If the pregnancy was widely known or if they are very open about the miscarriage, it may even be appropriate to ask them if they would like it shared on the church prayer list or e-mail so that others in the local body can pray for them. Acknowledging a miscarriage as a reason for grief can in itself bring healing.

2) Counsel them from the Word.

All pastors and church leaders need to be ready to answer the question, “Is my baby in heaven?” Too many believe we need to be agnostic regarding this question. In other words, they believe it may be true that God saves babies. They say the attributes of God point us in that direction, but they believe Scripture is silent on the issue. I believe God is clear in Scripture that He welcomes into heaven every baby who dies, born or unborn. I believe this for four main reasons.

First, consider God’s view of children (Ezekiel 16:21; Jonah 4:11; Jeremiah 19:4; Isaiah 7:15-16). God claims ownership over all babies whom He calls “innocents,” even those of pagan nations. Second, consider Jesus’s love for children (Mark 10:13-16; Luke 18:15-17; Matthew 19:13-15). There is no other instance in Scripture of Jesus specifically blessing those destined for hell. Third, consider King David’s belief (2 Samuel 12:22-23). David was comforted with much more than the thought that he would join his infant son in the grave someday—he expected that he would see him again! Fourth, consider theological reasons. Scriptures such as 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Ephesians 5:5, and Revelation 20:12-13show that we are saved by grace but condemned by works. Whenever Scripture describes those who will inhabit hell, the emphasis is on their willful sin and rebellion against God. I agree with Spurgeon, who preached: “We hold that all infants [who die] are elect of God are therefore saved, and we look to this as being the means by which Christ shall see of the travail of His soul to a great degree, and we do sometimes hope that thus the multitude of the saved shall be made to exceed the multitude of the lost.”2

I have written more on this topic elsewhere, but John MacArthur’s book Safe in the Arms of God extensively dives into this crucial topic. When I wrote a seminary paper on the eternal destiny of babies, I found that previous generations who dealt with higher infant death rates often wrote about this more. But all pastors need to dive deeply into this at some point. It is not theoretical. It is a pressing pastoral issue when a miscarriage happens or when a baby dies.

Even a pastor who is unsure of his theology in this area needs to be prepared with some encouragement from the Word for parents grieving a miscarriage because the Holy Spirit brings healing through the Word of God.

3) Offer practical help from the church if needed.

As you minister to the family, see if there are practical ways the church can help and come alongside them in their grief. Of course, the needs will vary with the situation, but asking about the need for meals or other help during recovery time can go a long way. My wife and I both remember feeling the love and help of the body of Christ as some meals were brought to us after our first miscarriage and again in another church years later as a second miscarriage included medical complications. Knowing that we were loved and not alone brought great comfort.

It is a good pastoral practice to follow up with a couple in the months following the miscarriage, even if that starts with a quick check-in. They might be dealing with other situations later, such as infertility, depression, or needing encouragement in their marriage. I have never regretted checking in on a couple a month or two after a miscarriage, but I have regretted not checking in on them. 

Christ always cares for His sheep, and while we are not Christ, we can reflect him when we show special care to those who are suffering the unique hurts a miscarriage brings. Through faithful pastors and churches, hurting couples can experience the healing and hope that Christ brings.

  1. While this article focuses on miscarriage, couples who face stillbirths will need much of the same ministry and perhaps even more support. The CDC defines the difference between miscarriage and stillbirth: “a miscarriage is usually defined as loss of a baby before the 20th week of pregnancy, and a stillbirth is loss of a baby at or after 20 weeks of pregnancy.” https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/stillbirth/facts.html ↩︎
  2. Spurgeon, Expositions of the Doctrines of Grace. ↩︎
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The Gratitude Revolution Every Pastor Needs

I originally published this article at The Focused Pastor.

Leaf season just ended here in Vermont. The thousands of “leaf peepers” who inundate our little town for a month and a half every autumn are gone. People are no longer stopping in the middle of the road to jump out of their cars and snap the perfect photo of fall splendor. But traffic annoyances in our sleepy town aside, I thank God for leaf peepers because they remind me to look for the glory around us. Fresh eyes looking at our green mountains turned orange, red, and gold see things familiar eyes may miss. Similarly, cultivating a heart of gratitude for what God is doing in our churches helps us see our churches in new ways. Giving thanks opens our eyes to see glory again.

Being intentionally thankful in ministry has too often not been my default attitude

It is easy for me to focus on the difficult parts of pastoral ministry, the problems in the church, and the difficult church members. It takes an act of the Spirit and me yielding to the Spirit to have a reflex of gratitude. Problems are often in our faces as pastors, and we can be utterly blind at times to what we should be thankful for in our churches. Yet we learn from the Apostle Paul’s pattern that gratitude for our churches and thanksgiving to God for specific church members will give us new lenses through which to view our churches. This attitude can be revolutionary in our view of ministry as we follow Paul’s example.

Colossians 1:3-5 is a paradigm for pastors that can change our default from grumbling to gratitude. “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, because of the hope laid up for you in heaven…” (Colossians 1:3-5a). First, Paul says he always thanks God for the Colossian church when he prays for them.

Do you thank God persistently and specifically for what He does in people’s lives?

Look at how specific he is. In these three verses, Paul gives thanks for their faith, he gives thanks for their love for the saints, and he gives thanks for how they are growing in their understanding of and appropriation of the gospel. Paul sees the salvation and sanctification of the Colossian believers as a direct work of the Holy Spirit (Colossians 1:8), so he thanks God for His work in them.

Fellow Pastors, do you give thanks specifically for the work God is doing in people’s lives?

Do you give thanks for the kids and teens growing in their faith? Do you give thanks for the marriages that reflect the love of Christ better than they used to? Do you give thanks by name for the seniors in your church?

If I don’t purposefully stop and give thanks for the work I see God doing in or through specific people, I am missing out on an opportunity to worship the God who is at work. Many people give thanks this time of year, but part of how gratitude becomes Christian thanksgiving is when we express it to God.

We’re not talking about a secular optimism that tries hard to see the world through rose-colored glasses but ignores significant difficulties or issues it needs to deal with. Rather, the apostolic example for us as pastors is that because of who God is, and because of what God indeed does, we have reasons to give thanks.

Most of the beginning of Paul’s epistles start with him giving thanks for the church he writes to (Romans 1:8, 1 Corinthians 1:4, Ephesians 1:15-16, Philippians 1:3-5, 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3, 2 Thessalonians 1:3, 2 Timothy 1:3, Philemon 4-5). Notice the pattern. Paul thanks God for them and then tells them. It’s like “gratitude dynamite” when we thank God for somebody and then tell them so. It helps them to see the miracle of Almighty God at work in them.

The thanksgiving for the church in Corinth sticks out as a way to give thanks no matter what is going on in ministry at any moment. In all the other passages, Paul thanks God for something specific. But when he writes to the church in Corinth with all their problems, he thanks God for His grace in them. He’s unsure what to thank God for in that church, so he thanks God for His grace in their lives.

Paul shows us that we can thank God for what He is doing in our churches now rather than waiting to thank Him if they become more of what we want them to be. It is an act of worship to thank God for what I see Him doing now, even in the difficult seasons of ministry.

Don’t let pastoral ministry harden you

In The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace becomes a dragon. It takes the painful and persistent clawing of the Christ figure, Aslan the lion, to remove Eustace’s scaly, hard dragon skin so that Eustace can be a soft-skinned boy again.

It could be that you are like me. At times, the relentlessness of issues in pastoral ministry can harden you. Problems may be blinding you to blessings. One of the only ways I have found not to let the stress harden me is to continually pursue a heart of gratitude. When I am not thanking God for His work in people’s lives, my church, and my family’s lives, I begin to look more like a dragon than a pastor. But a miracle happens when I pursue gratitude, especially when I continually thank God in prayer for what He is doing. I become soft toward God again, excited about what He is doing in my church. Gratitude is the tool Jesus often uses to painfully help me to shed my scales and enjoy doing again what He has created me to do: glorify him, be a normal person (not a crusty pastor), and use my gifts to shepherd others well.

Sometimes, in the act of thanksgiving, God gives us new eyes. God sees everything, and when we obey God in praying with thankful hearts, sometimes He will show us something else He is doing that we couldn’t see before we gave thanks. Gratitude begets gratitude. Thanksgiving turns into prayer, which turns into praise, even when I don’t feel thankful.

It could be that a gratitude revolution is what you need. According to the pattern in the epistles, it is what we all need.

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