Job Hazards

Every job comes with its own set of hazards. I have heard it said that one of the biggest hazards for a pastor is that you can get comfortable doing the right things for the wrong reasons. At first, this may not seem like a big deal. At least we are doing the right thing. But if left unchecked, this slippery slope can lead to a giant chasm between our inner life and outer life.

Pastors have a public vocation. Big church or small church, people are observing our lives. The scary thing is that onlookers can only see what we project on the outside. Jesus spent a lot of his time addressing this very issue with the religious leaders of his day. They did all the right things but often for the wrong reasons. Their inner life was terribly out of alignment with the kind of life they were trying to model for those whom they were called to care for. Because of the great disconnect between their heart and actions, Jesus called them whitewashed tombs.

Ouch.

While this hazard may be amplified for pastors or anyone living out a public-facing vocation, the truth is we all live very public-facing lives. We typically only place our best foot forward. We curate our lives to be impressive. People do this for various reasons. For some, it may be for attention and accolades. For others, the performance may come from a deep sense of inferiority. Either way, it eventually becomes exhausting, if you are lucky. The scary part is when you believe the performance is the real you, and once you hit that point, it is very difficult to recover from.

I am thankful that my church tradition places a high value on confession. Every week I get to gather with my church family and lead them through a moment where we all get to scrape the whitewash off our lives. Each week we ask God to forgive us for the things we have done and the things we have left undone, thus exposing the disconnect.

Today, I invite you to PAUSE with me and confess. To confess to yourself and God the things you have done and the things you have left undone. In doing so, we begin unearthing these misguided motivations in our lives.

As we begin, I invite you to take a few deep breaths in and out.

Pray. Holy Spirit, as I pause today, I ask that you guide my heart and mind in these next few moments.

Pause.

Confess. Father, forgive me for the things I have done. Review the last 24-hours and name the things you have done that hurt your neighbor, yourself, or God’s reputation in this world.

Pause.

Confess. Father, forgive me for the things I have left undone. Review the last 24-hours and name the things you have not done that hurt your neighbor, yourself, or God’s reputation in this world.

Pause.

We are complicated creatures who do some really awful things sometimes and don’t do some really important things other times. God knows this, and yet he loves us anyway.

Receive.

Romans 5:6–8
For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

You, my friend, are forgiven and loved by God. May the Spirit of Jesus continue to bring your inner and outer life into alignment today.

Grace and Peace.