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Rabble Roused
The complainers place me in an awkward position, seeking God on their behalf when I'd rather give them the boot.
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But pastors are called to serve as wilderness guides, wandering through the ordinary with their people, loving them enough to point to the manna that keeps them spiritually alive even when it is unappreciated. We have to choose to keep embracing this high calling. The most dangerous rabble are not the complaining people around us, but the rabble that live within the leader's heart. This is why I have never understood the advice that says, "Just trust your heart." If your heart is like mine, most days there's a bad committee meeting going on in there. So you have to make choices about which inner voice you're going to honor, or the rabble of anxiety will overwhelm you. Here's the scary part: God will honor your choices. As Moses eventually discovered, if you get fed up with wandering around and keep asking God to get these people to the Promised Land without you, you'll get your wish. Moses wasn't with them when they finally crossed the Jordan. And it didn't make him as happy as he thought it would. Editor at large Craig Barnes is pastor of Shadyside Presbyterian Church and professor of leadership and ministry at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Copyright © 2004 by the author or Christianity Today International/Leadership Journal. |             |
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