Pastors Aren’t as Tough as You Think

Chaplain Gary Fisher preached for us on this Veteran’s Day. In a discussion afterward he shared how he and another Chaplain tried to take the brunt of some stressful situations on themselves because they believed that because they were more prepared to handle it. They thought they would be strong enough. “We were not,” he said plainly. Even Chaplains are subject to the brain ravaging impact of PTSD. That is because they are human beings, not supermen. It reminded me of my own limitations. Superheroes are a fantasy. God has chosen weak humans to do his work. Even the Apostle Paul was daily aware of his own frailty. I just want to take a moment to remind people of the human frailties of the people that God has called to be their pastors.

• We still have sin natures.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life–these are all things that every pastor faces. We have just as much potential to fall to these vices as anyone in the church. No amount of biblical knowledge or ecclesiastical position makes sin easier to resist. The illusion that position or knowledge creates immunity puts any man of God in danger. If the Psalmist of Israel could fall, so can we. We know it. We do not often talk about it.

• We do not see everything.

“Pastor, my wife and I would like to come in to the office and talk to you.” These are words most pastors dread to hear. The pastor’s brain starts working overtime trying to determine what the problem is. I have given this up. I am wrong most of the time. What is even more frustrating is to find out that a family has been in crisis, or a member has been in pain and I did not know. I just did not see it, and I am trying to see it. Please, if you need help, tell someone. If you need your pastor to know something, tell him. He is human, he might not see it.

• We do not have all the answers.

This one is even harder. I went to Bible College, I went to seminary, I got a doctorate, I have been in pastoral ministry for 30 years, and still I am often just plain stumped about how to help someone. I know that God has the answers in His word for what we need in this life, but sometimes those answers seem to elude me. I often need help.

• We care about you more than you realize.

When I stand in the pulpit on Sundays I look out at a congregation of hurting people. I rejoice in their victories and glory in what God is doing in their lives, but I also know intimately the secret pain of hundreds of people–their sinful struggles, sorrows, losses, disappointments, and sadness. I might have heard the story once, many years ago, but I remember. Just knowing can seem overwhelming.

• We often face difficult priority decisions.

When I was in seminary, Tim Jordan had just become the senior pastor of Calvary Baptist Church. One weekend we had a men’s activity he did not attend. The next time I saw him, I mentioned to him that I noticed he was not at the men’s fellowship. He responded to me but never really gave me a reason why he did not attend. However, it was his countenance that struck me. My words had wounded him. I could see pain on his countenance. When I became a pastor myself I understood that look. It was the “I have to make difficult decisions I cannot explain to you” look. Your pastor is making hard decisions all the time and sometimes he just cannot explain them to you.

• We face spiritual opposition.

Spurgeon called them the “minister’s fainting fits” in his Lectures to My Students. Every pastor I know goes through periods of spiritual exhaustion and spiritual oppression. It is real and it is inexplicable.  The only people that really seem to understand are other pastors. Years ago, one of our members finished his Bible College degree and left a very high corporate position to join our church staff. He had been a corporate vice president for the largest auto parts supplier in the western US. He came to me after six months of ministry and said, “This is the hardest thing I have ever done. This is not a full-time job, it is a full-life job. The pressures are so much greater because the stakes are so much higher.”

• We always think we should have done, and should be doing, more.

And many times, we are right. If we knew then what we know now, we would have done things differently. I wish I could go back to my early ministry and make some changes. We have regrets, but the failures of our past cannot undermine our commitment to obedience in the future.

There is nothing I would rather do with my life. I am called to pastoral ministry. I know that more now than the day that I entered ministry. I consider serving my Lord in this way my great privilege, but I am not as tough as some might think.