This quality in your pastor deserves your appreciation …

The late 20th century minister, D. Martin Lloyd-Jones, once said, “A man should only enter the Christian ministry if he cannot stay out of it.”

That’s very similar to the advice given to me long ago when I sat down with my “hero in the faith,” Dr. LeRoy Lawson, and talked to him about how I thought the Lord might be calling me to vocational ministry. His advice was something like this: “If you can do anything else and still have peace with God, go do that. If you can’t, do whatever it takes to heed His call.”

More than 37 years into vocational ministry, I get it.

When God taps you on the shoulder to go serve Him in Christ’s church, you’ll not find peace pursuing any other vocation. You simply must serve!

That kind of minister has that kind of response to a call to vocational ministry because Christ has become their life. The 16th century preacher, Jonathan Edwards, alludes to this in his comment, “I go out to preach with two propositions in mind. First, every person ought to give his life to Christ. Second, whether or not anyone else gives him his life I will give him mine.”

Every October we observe “Pastor Appreciation Month” and a big part of the reasoning for doing so is because of all the things pastors do for Christ and His church — for you and your family. But they do all they do first because they have surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ, and out of their love for Him, they simply must be about His business!

That quality in a pastor deserves your appreciation. Let me encourage you to express your appreciation to your pastor this month.

Scotty