7 Encouraging Quotes for Pastors from a New Book for Pastors
I try to make my birthday last as long as possible. In fact, during my birthday in late October, I sometimes joke with my wife and kids that we celebrate their birthdays, but we celebrate my birthweek. Then, around my birthday, I proceed to make the presents and the cake last for seven days. It doesn’t really work, but it hasn’t stopped me from trying. I often try to continue the same silly joke for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, I mean Mother’s Week and Father’s Week.
I don’t know when or how it began, but today marks the beginning of not just one day or week of celebration for pastors but a whole month. Today, the first day in October, begins Pastor Appreciation Month.
I hope you regularly attend a local church and have pastors you appreciate. If so, it’s good to let them know. And you don’t have to do anything huge for your appreciation to be felt. As a pastor, I can tell you that just the other day I got a text message from a member of our church who told me a few of the specific reasons he was thankful for my ministry. That simple text meant a lot.
If you’d like to get a small gift for your pastors, might I suggest a book? One of the most encouraging books I read last year was Pastor, Jesus Is Enough by Jeremy Writebol. The subtitle explains that the book offers “hope for the weary, the burned out, and the broken.” In the book, Writebol takes the view that the letters to the churches in Revelation are really letters to the churches and especially to the pastors of the churches. This small insight about the target audience being pastors made a huge difference in how I see this portion of Revelation, both in the exhortations and the many encouragements.
If you enjoy the below passages from Writebol’s book, please consider buying a copy to give your pastor this month.
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“When he draws near to the apostle John on Patmos in Revelation 1, he appears in radiant glory. There is no question the vision of the resurrected, vindicated, glorified Jesus was to demonstrate his supreme and matchless authority over all contenders. If you’re on the opposing side of his glory, you should be terrified. But if you’re a ‘brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus,’ then Jesus showing up in glory for you is a welcome sight (Rev 1:9 CSB).”
“These letters are about how Jesus is enough for each of them, in their particular needs. . . . Their weakness doesn’t repel Jesus. He doesn’t give up on any one of them. He won’t give up on you either. In fact, like Jesus’ victorious promise to them, Jesus’ expectation is that you will be victorious too. Yes: you, pastor. He’s enough to see us home to the end.”
“There’s a knot I have to untangle when I think about the pastor’s wandering affections and the ‘ministry mistress.’ On one hand, there are (usually) obvious signs when a pastor is in a ministry affair with his church. He’s frantic. His pace is overwhelming. There is more and more and more and more he is trying to do for the kingdom of God. Ministry is an unquenchable fire that requires nearly everything from him. Early mornings, late nights, meeting to meeting to meeting defines his work. There is no quiet, no peace, no rest in his life. Taking a day off each week or using all his vacation time is sacrificed on the altar of ‘too much to do.’ But in my experience, the pastor who is treating his church as a mistress is usually doing good work. He’s not necessarily frayed at the edges trying to hold it all together. The pastor has found a way to be effective and successful in ministry and this has produced, from the outside, a healthy, sound, growing ministry. If he has any charisma or personal attractiveness, then people are all the more drawn to his work, which amplifies the problem. The pastor loves the ministry, the church wants his ministry, and an affair of the heart occurs.”
“This pastor needs to see clearly that Jesus walks among the seven golden lampstands. He’s not passively hovering on the fringes. He’s active and busy in the churches. Not only is Jesus active in his church, but he also holds the stars in his right hand. More than just having them, the verb here reflects that Jesus is grasping his pastors in his hand. They aren’t just there, they are held there. Again, it’s an active sense of Jesus for his church, with his church, protecting his pastors and people. This pastor is being held securely in the hands of Jesus, as Jesus acts and works in his church.”
“Jesus promises those who are faithful that they will be rewarded with the crown of life. Even death won’t be able to steal away the reward of faithfulness. The crown is life.”
“If you’re looking for one to sympathize with your pain, Jesus is enough. If you’re looking for one who’s been there and knows the depths of your agony, Jesus is enough. If you wonder where relief and aid and respite will come from, Jesus is enough. If you’re looking for someone to be nearer to you than a brother, Jesus is enough. Pastor, in your suffering, abandonment, meager pay, long nights, frustrating board meetings, angry-member emails, frustrating staff departures, misrepresented statements, interrupted family vacations, lost sleep, and all the whirlwinds of trial and tribulation that a local pastor feels, Jesus is enough for you. He is enough because all his trials were for the purpose of reconciling you to him. He is enough because all his poverty was to make you rich. He is enough because all the blasphemy against his name was to give you a new name. He endured it all so that all who believe on him would have God as their Father, and Jesus as our brother. He endured it all so that we would forever belong to him.”
“Pastor, fix your eyes on Christ! He is worthy enough to receive all things. We must ascribe to him all our power. It is from his hand that we have leadership. We must ascribe to him all wealth. What do we have that we did not receive (1 Cor 4:7)? Value comes from him, not us. Jesus is wisdom. We humble ourselves to his Word. He is the one who is strong; we are weak. He is the dignified and exalted Lord. We are servants doing our duty. He gets all glory. He receives all blessing. Friends, it’s all his!”