“I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls. If I love you more, am I to be loved less?” (2 Corinthians 12:15, ESV)
I had a pastor once that stated, “A pastor needs the skin of a rhinoceros and the heart of a lamb.” His point was that the work of the pastor is difficult since often people will inflict the pastor with wounds. What makes this worse is that sometimes the ones to whom you pour out the most love will be the ones that hurt you the most. I have experienced this on several occasions. There was a young couple that I met in my time of pastoral ministry. I spent extra time with them, pouring into them. Then one day I preached a very strong sermon. Yes, it was really a tough one about what a real follower of Jesus looked like. I guess I could have softened my words but I did not. I did not say anything that was false. On Monday that week I received one of the most hurtful emails from this couple imaginable. I still loved the couple, even after they left the church, but it still hurt. Yes, a lamb’s heart but a rhino’s skin.
I imagine that Paul’s heart was broken a bit by the response of the church at Corinth to him. They seemed to be turning their back on Paul in favor of some false teachers. Paul loved his churches and poured his life out for them. For the church in Corinth, he further sacrificed. Paul used the analogy of loving parents sacrificing for their children’s wellbeing to explain what he did for the church. He did not burden them with any financial obligation to support his ministry. He never took advantage of them. In this way, he differentiated himself from the false apostles.
You can imagine that Paul was heartbroken. Yet he never gave up on the church. this is the way parents are and it is the way pastors view their flock. Congregations need to know how much their pastors love them. They need to understand how much the pastor sacrifices for them. The sacrifice is normally not seen for it is something born in the heart of the pastor. It is that carrying of burdens for the members in need. It is in the spiritual warfare that is waged by every preacher who preaches and teaches the whole truth of God’s word. It is the preacher who gets up when the phone rings in the dark hours of the morning to console one who is hurting or goes to the emergency room to pray with someone. I could go on and list the many acts of love that the pastor extends towards parishioners but the short devotional will not permit.
What is the point? Parishioners must better understand the love their pastor has for them. They must have some compassion. They should reciprocate with love towards their pastors. Understand that pastors are people too. They are not supermen. They do have feelings. They can be hurt. Yet, to the best of their ability and by God’s grace, they have to wear their rhinoceros skin while continuing to love the flock.
Renewing the Heart 