This Happens When You Are a Preacher

This Happens When You Are a Preacher

People will love you and people will loathe you.

People will praise you and people will pester you.

People will be intrigued by you and people will be irritated by you.

People will believe most everything you say and people will belittle what you say.

People will comfort you and people will criticize you.

People will hug you and people will hurt you.

People will laugh with you and people will laugh at you.

People will delight you and people will depress you.

People will assist you and people will avoid you.

People will enjoy you and people will eat you apart.

People will defend you and people will destroy you.

People will mimic you and people will mock you.

People will need you and people will needle you.

People will seek your expertise and people will smother you.

People will look up to you and people will look down on you.

People will weep with you and people will wonder about you.

People will express thanks to you and people will examine every detail of your existence.

People will yell for you and people will yell at you.

People will appreciate you and people will annoy you.

You may wonder if people will really treat you in some of these less than stellar ways. Absolutely they will. Just ask Jesus, Paul, Peter, Jeremiah, Noah, or just about any preacher who has been preaching for very long.

As is true with many things in life, it isn’t how we are treated, it’s how we react and respond. I believe it was Vance Havner who said a preacher needs to have the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of a rhinoceros!

There’s a very appropriate verse in Kipling’s IF that says, “if you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat these two imposters just the same.”

We will be more equipped to handle the mistreatment if our focus and our life is more about Jesus than about us. As well, if we can learn not to be too enamored by platitudes or too enraged by those who seek to do us harm, we will be less likely to consider quitting on any day of the week!