March 10, 2025
by Pastor Chuck Swindoll
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Does it surprise you that being a pastor is perilous? I doubt it. You live with the reality of it each day. But to some who are not in the ministry, serving others sounds as safe and harmless as a poached egg on a plate.
What could possibly be perilous about it? Plenty.
As we examine Paul’s words in the fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians, I’d like to suggest several familiar misconceptions regarding serving God. Read the familiar words in verses four through seven carefully:
The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For what we preach is not ourselves but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. (2 Corinthians 4:4–7 NASB)
Sounds like servants comprise an elite body of people, doesn’t it? They possess a treasure. The “surpassing greatness” of God’s power pours out of their lives. But when you look closely, you detect that all of that is of God, not themselves. We pastors know this for a fact, don’t we?
This introduces us to a misconception: pastors have special powers in themselves. How very easy it is for our flocks to look at us through rose-colored glasses!
It’s almost as if we possess a mystical, divine unction or some angelic “mantle” that causes us to ooze with supernatural, heaven-sent power. But this is wrong! Look at an earlier verse:
Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence is from God. (2 Corinthians 3:5)
We have no special powers in ourselves.
Mark it well: we pastors are 100 percent human, filled with all the weaknesses and potential for failure that characterize every other human being. In light of that, be careful!