“Dishonor” & The American Complainer
5 May
Ever been talked down to?
Ever been unappreciated?
Ever overheard someone talking smack about you?
How did you react to those things?
I read this today
“A fools anger is known at once, but a prudent man conceals dishonor.” Proverbs 12:16
This goes a lot of different directions and I’ll throw some tidbits to you. These thoughts are not cultivated from what’s happening in my own personal life at the moment, but a collection of friends, old colleagues and blogs I’ve read these past few years.
Seasoned Pastors: Remember you are on a team not a ship. Giving orders goes about as far as pulling hair. Encourage and embrace your staff. Encourage and enable people to be the best they can while they serve alongside you. It’s not about you, it’s about Jesus and if you’ve forgotten that; take a sabbatical.
Young Pastors: It’s also not about you, it’s about Jesus. Do the best you can and look for areas to help out in even if it’s not ‘your job’. Pastor Doug always tells me, ‘be irreplaceable.‘ Do all of these things out of respect and with regard to those who are over you spiritually, financially and relationally.
Church Goers: It’s enticing to complain. It’s also very seductive to others when they hear complaining. Everybody’s got a, “well at my last church….” story. Next thing you know there’s a complainfest happening in the parking lot after service. If you’re not doing anything about it, don’t talk about it. Simple as that.
If the worshippers aren’t into it at your church and all you do is talk about how they’re ‘just not into it’ but you’re rocking the 25th row where no one can see you because it’s ‘your spot’, shut your mouth and walk up to the front row and do something about it.
If you feel unwelcome at your church or a greeter forgot to give you a name tag last sunday; don’t talk about it. Email your connections Pastor and be a greeter.
If your car breaks down and you’re not skilled in the auto-repair trade, you probably don’t sit around for months complaining about how your vehicle isn’t working the way you want it to do you? No, you take it to a guy named Ron, or Don, or some other awesome three letter name printed neatly on a patch attached to his half-unbuttoned work onesie and that dude fixes it!
You see, a lot of the American Complainer’s problem is that they think because they can’t physically do whatever it takes to fix what’s bugging them; i.e. lead worship, speak, teach, greet; that they can’t facilitate change in some way. If you can’t, firsthand, fix what’s wrong, take your problem to someone who can.
A lot of ‘problems’ are simply oversights by a busy person and that can be fixed easily by drawing attention to it.
We’ve taken on the cloak of the American ‘serve me now’ and applied it to Sunday mornings. As Christians this is wrong people. Don’t believe me? Matthew 20:28 Mark 10:45 Luke 22:26 Luke 22:27 John 12:26 Philippians 2:3 Colossians 2:18 you get the picture.
So, in a nutshell. Don’t complain. Serve. Don’t let your anger be known, conceal your dishonor and serve.
Share Jesus.
Tags: america, American Church, Church, complainers, dishonor, Jesus, love
Great post, J. I used this theme once on my blog. Coming here brings back good memories!
thanks!
great post j!
i used this theme once on my blog – brings back memories.
thanks anne! yeah…still kinda new to the whole blog thing!
A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense. Proverbs 19:11 (just to add to the Proverbs 12:16 bit) I have put this up in my house before because it’s just so easy to forget and think we have “rights” or deserve something.
Yes, this is true. I had a friend once who stopped going to Journey because she said there wasn’t ministry for single moms. I told her,”If you see the need, then why don’t you start a ministry for it?” If everyone leaves because of a lack or talks to people whom have nothing to do with the problem, the lack will never get fulfilled and the problem never solved.
so good Jamie!