The Perfect Pastor preaches exactly 10 minutes. He condemns sin roundly, but never hurts anyone’s feelings.
He works from 8 a.m. until midnight, and is also the church janitor.
The Perfect Pastor makes $40 a week, wears good clothes, drives a good car, buys good books, and donates $30 a week to the church.
He is 29 years old and has 40 years’ worth of experience. Above all, he is handsome.
The Perfect Pastor has a burning desire to work with teenagers, and he spends most of his time with the senior citizens.
He smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his church.
He makes 15 home visits a day and is always in his office to be handy when needed.
The Perfect Pastor always has time for church meetings and all of its committees, never missing the meeting of any church organization. And he is always busy evangelizing the unchurched.
The Perfect Pastor is always in the next town over!
This kind of thinking is why there is a church on every corner! We let our human feelings and what we think the pastor (or others) should do to get in our way of why we really go to church – to worship our Father in Heaven, our Creator. When we don’t like something that happens in church, we move on to another church with “the grass is always greener on the other side” kind of thinking. The truth is, if you are looking for something to complain about in a church, as long as there are people in the church, you will find it! Why? Because no matter how much we try to be Christ-like, we are all human and we all make mistakes. No one is perfect. We are all trying our best, but we always succeed in failing our fellow human beings. But, at the same time, if you look for a reason to PRAISE, you will find that, too! Because God is present when two or more people come together in His name. (Mt. 18:20)
We should try focusing our attention on God and His message rather than the person/people around us. When we take our eyes off of Christ we sink into the sea of judgement, condemnation, and disappointment. Christ will NEVER disappoint us, so we should keep our eyes on Him!
I know sometimes this is easier said than done and I’m not saying I do it all the time, either. Daily life sometimes gets in the way and diverts my eyes to other things and that is when I slip and start to sin and inevitably; however, unintentionally, hurt someone. But the good news is that God forgives and wipes our slate clean! We no longer have to look back at our past mistakes (except to learn from them) because God has forgotten them!
God the Father, Christ the Son, and the Holy Spirit are always present to help us reconcile our relationship with Them/Him. Hallelujah!
Kimberly