“Father, forgive them. For they do not know what
they do” (Luke 23:34).
They were killing Jesus. They would run up and spit
on Him, then back off and laugh at Him and call
Him blasphemous names. They would quote His
words back to Him and dare Him to come down
from the cross and prove Himself.
They were mean-spirited and ugly and hatefilled, and
He loved them.
As they killed Him, He prayed for them.
That, my friends, is a pastor. A shepherd. A lover of
God’s people.
The heart of a pastor is a wonderful thing.
Something inside me wants to say preachers either
have hearts of a pastor or they do not. And if not,
they should turn down every invitation from search
committees to become pastors because it’s a perfect
set-up for disappointment on his part and disaster on
theirs. The preacher who can deliver a fine sermon
but who is unavailable and ineffective during the week
one-on-one should ask the Lord to show him other
ways to use his gifts and calling.
The pastorate is not for him.
On the other hand, I imagine a large segment of
pastors have dominant drawings to study and
preaching, and with a minor, if you will, in the actual
pastoral work. Even so, any minister of the Gospel
without a strong appreciation for the people of God
and his accountability to God for their care and
nurture is missing something essential in his makeup.
Case in point.
Hunter and have wife have been family friends for
many years. But from our frequent conversations
over the last few years, Hunter’s pastor seems to
have been AWOL the day Heaven handed out the
quota of “pastors’ hearts.” (That would be one per
person, presumably.)
For reasons unknown, he did not get his.
Hunter says his pastor insists he received a calling
from God and a love for God’s word. What he seems
to have missed out on, however, was a love for
God’s people with the accompanying desire to see
them prosper in Christ. (Please allow me not to give
specifics on this. Even though it may appear
otherwise, my purpose here is not to dump on this
brother. He is not on trial and I’m no prosecuting
attorney.)
I grieve about this because Hunter and his family
need a pastor now as much as ever in their lives. My
friend is in the grips of a terminal disease. We’re told
he has one year to live at best.
The hospital where my friend has been treated is some
miles away from their small town. But the pastor has
been mostly a no-show.
A close friend of mine has been calling on Hunter and
praying with him and his wife. Then, around 8 am
one morning this week, Hunter’s neighbor, an 84-
year-old pastor of another denomination, walked into
the hospital room. He ministered to my friend and
prayed with him the way pastors do.
Two hours later, I walked into Hunter’s room.
After an exhausting weekend of ministry, I drove 200
miles the night before in order to spend a few minutes
with my friends going through the darkest valley of
their lives.
It’s what pastors do.
It’s what people with “pastors’ hearts” do.
It’s that simple.
Ministers without pastors’ hearts–tell me if that’s not
an oxymoron!–look for excuses not to make these
trips. “I ran by but you were asleep.” “We prayed
for you in staff meeting.” “My car has been giving me
trouble.” “Those hospital rooms are so small and I
know you’ve had a lot of company.” “I’ve not been
feeling well lately.”
My buddy Hunter is being ministered to by three
brothers each with the heart of a pastor: my friend in
that city who has been calling on him in the hospital,
the next-door neighbor (the 84-year-old), and me.
(I baptized Hunter and his wife decades ago and we
have maintained our close friendship ever since.)
I gladly confess with a grateful heart that when the
Heavenly Father called me into this work at the age
of 21, He gave me a heart of a pastor.
The contrast with the compassionless pastor grieves
me a great deal. Were such a minister to ask for
advice–which is not going to happen–I would urge him
to pray the Lord who called him into His service
either to open up some other field of service more
appropriate to his gifts or to grant him the heart of a
pastor.
Question: What does a minister-with-a-pastor’s-
heart look like? How can he tell if he has one?
–Instead of looking for excuses not to be at the
hospital to minister to the family who needs him, he
looks for ways to make it happen. Rising at 4 am to
make a two-hour drive in order to arrive before
surgery? No problem.
–The distance is irrelevant. If necessary, he will
hitchhike to get there. He is determined to bless his
people in the name of Jesus.
–The minister with a pastor’s heart will not do a cost
analysis to determine if he should go. You know the
drill: “What benefit would come from my visit? and is
it worth the time and trouble?” Such reasoning is
insulting to the Holy Spirit who can take nothing and
make something, can turn a spoken word or a human
touch into something eternal and glorious. The
shepherd with a pastor’s heart is a true servant of the
Lord and is devoted to His people.
–A pastor’s heart will not allow the minister to “check
someone off his list” after he has made the visit. He
will continue to pray for them and check on them, by
phone or emails or personal calls. His caring is
genuine.
A child had been killed in a hit-and-run accident and
the family was beside themselves with grief. The
community overflowed the church to share the family’s
pain during the funeral. The young pastor told me
later, “That service was the hardest thing I have
ever done.”
I said, “All right. I have a question.”
“In the middle of that gut-wrenching experience,
when your heart is breaking and your soul is crying
out to God for help, did you have the feeling that I
would rather be here doing this than anyplace else on
earth?”
He looked surprised, as though I had found out his
secret.
“That is exactly how I felt.”
I said, “You, my friend, have a pastor’s heart.”
Now, keep your heart and guard it well.
Sin of any type will soil the heart. Rebellion will
deaden its sensitivy. And a refusal to confess and
forsake the sin will begin to encase the heart in a
protective callous. Before long, the minister who
showed such promise and blessed so many people now
has become a professional. From this time on, he/she
serves as a professional and not as a brother or sister
who truly cares.
You must not let that happen. The day you can
minister to a family that is burying a child and not
weep with them, you are becoming a professional.
The moment you can stand at a bedside of a dying
saint and not join with the family’s tears, you are
becoming a professional.
“Jesus wept” (John 11:35).
He was a shepherd, a Savior with a heart that hurt
for the hurting. “When He saw the multitudes, He
was moved with compassion for them, because they
were weary and scattered, like sheep without a
shepherd” (Matthew 9:36).
Thank God our Savior has a shepherd’s heart. “We
do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with
our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we
are…” (Hebrews 4:15).
I rejoice at having such a Pastor in Heaven. I so
want to be a shepherd like Him.
By Joe McKeever
Samantha Elauf was 17 when she had a job interview
with the clothing store chain in 2008. The interview
was going well and the manager was ready to hire
her. After checking with a senior manager, however,
he told Elauf that he could not hire her because she
was wearing a head scarf, garb often worn by Muslim
women for religious purposes. Abercrombie has a
strict dress code for its employees, which includes no
head scarves and no black.
Abercrombie & Fitch does not deny that Elauf was
turned down for the job because of her head scarf.
Instead, the company's lawyers argued that Elauf
shouldn't be able to win a religious freedom complaint
because she never expressly stated that she was
wearing the head scarf for religious reasons.
Baxter said that one of the most telling exchanges
was between Justice Samuel Alito and the
Abercrombie & Fitch lawyer. Would a Sikh man
wearing a turban, a Jewish man wearing a yarmulke
or a Catholic nun wearing a habit have to expressly
state that they were wearing those garments for
religious reasons? Alito asked, according to Baxter.
The lawyer admitted they would not.
