The Top Ten Blessings of My Month Off

For the last year or so, the church’s deacons and Personnel Committee have considered allowing me to take leave each year for the month of July.  I’ve never been good about taking all my vacation, and they thought this would be a good way to make that happen.  I’ve been very close to burnout several times across the years, and they believed this month away would help keep that from happening.  The church agreed.  So I’ve been off work for a month.  I’m a little embarrassed to talk about this since so many people are out of work and so few that do work get much time off.  But it is what it is, and I want to give God and the church thanks for making this happen.  It’s been a good time, a blessed time.  So on this first day back to work, I thought I’d put together the top ten blessings of my month off.  I was tempted to list eleven things, but since I already wrote about one of my blessings in my last post, I’ll stick with ten.  Here goes …

Number 10 – The church got to hear good preaching while I was gone.  As has often been said about pastors and time off, “If the pastor is good, he deserves it; if he’s not, the congregation deserves it.”  Our congregation deserves it, and they heard two of our staff members and two of our other favorite Arkansas preachers share God’s word with them in my absence.  Good stuff.

Number 9 – I got to hear some good preaching too.  I was blessed to hear three of our Hot Springs pastors I’ve not heard before: one young Baptist, one non-denominational, and one Methodist.  I really enjoy worshiping with other folks and seeing what God is up to in His larger kingdom.  And it was a blessing to see one of our young couples I assumed had dropped out of church involved in the non-denominational church I visited.  God is big and God is good and God is working all over the place.

Number 8 – I didn’t worry about the church because we have a great staff team and willing volunteers that are capable of taking care of things.  There ended up being a lot of things to take care of, and man, did our staff shine!

Number 7 – I didn’t have to set my alarm for 4:20 every morning.  I still got up early; that’s just how I roll.  But I didn’t have to get up that early, so I got more rest than usual.   Nice.

Number 6 – Safe travels.  I did some flying and some driving, and we got where we were going and back again in one piece.  And there was a bonus: I found out my credit card company would give me 5% off of gasoline purchases in July.  Having driven twice into Texas and once to Kansas City, 5% helps on the old pocketbook.  Thank you, Lord.

Number 5 – I got to watch four Oriole baseball games in person—two in Baltimore, one in Texas, and one in Kansas City.  The O’s won three of them!  And getting to watch them with some of my family, well, that made it even sweeter. My son, grandson, and I went to Baltimore and stopped by D.C. on the way.  I even got the serendipitous blessing of seeing two old friends I once pastored at the Orioles v. Royals game in Kansas City.  That was kind of funny really.  I was in my seat at the game, checking my phone, when I saw a Facebook post from a young man I watched grow up when I was pastor of his church in the KC area.  Knowing I'm an Oriole fan, he posted, "I wish John McCallum was here to watch the Orioles play the Royals."  I quickly commented on his post, "Your wish is granted.  I'm in section 114."  He then commented, "Stand up, turn around, and look into the Stadium Club above you."  I did and there were Dennis and B.J.  We were able to chat a little before the game began.  That's pretty cool.

Number 4 – I was able to follow on Facebook our church’s mission trips to Japan and to Arlington.  They did such a great job of keeping us updated that I almost felt like I was there.  And God used those trips in great ways.  And along a similar line, I got to briefly share my love for Jesus with a Pakistani Muslim taxi-driver in Baltimore.

Number 3 – I completed my sermon schedule for the rest of the year.  It’s always easier to prepare sermons when you have some idea where you’re going.  The Lord helped me get those ideas.  And I was able to work on that without having to take phone calls and make visits and deal with emergencies that might have cropped out had I been “on the job.”  Whether these sermons will be any good remains to be seen, but it’s good to have direction anyway.

Number 2 – I got to spend quality time with my whole family.  I’m blessed to get to see my son and his family fairly often, but I only see my daughter and her family two or three times a year.  It was good to spend a few days with her, her husband, and their three kids, deep in the heart of Texas.

And the number 1 blessing of my month off – I got to come back to work today.  Yes, I’m grateful to have a job.  But I’m just as grateful to be ready to come back to work.  I had a month off a couple of years ago, and I wasn’t ready to come back to work when it was over.  I was in a burnout phase that didn’t get better with time away.  The fact that I’ve been ready to come back to work for the last week tells me I’m in pretty good shape emotionally and spiritually. 

So, thank you, Lord.  And thank you, First Baptist Church, for the gift of this time.  I do not take it for granted.  And this is my prayer for all of you who read these words: May any time off you get be as blessed as mine!

Hey Pastor, It Doesn't Come Back Empty After All

So I went to preach at a church in Benton, Arkansas, on Sunday night.  They’re having one of those get-a-different-preacher-every-Sunday-night-for-a-month-revival kind of deals.  I was honored to be asked.  I’m a little familiar with this church.  I’ve preached there twice before during the tenures of the two previous pastors.  Good people in that church.

Anyway, during the worship service one of their members gets up to do a musical/recitation kind of thing.  But before he does his thing, he shares a little story about how God moved him to get more deeply involved in serving God in the church and out.  He said it started with a sermon a guest pastor preached to that church several years ago.  It was a sermon called “Kingdom Math” based on the story in John 6 of the little boy who gave his sack lunch to Jesus—a lunch Jesus used to feed a multitude.  “What’s in your pouch?” asked the preacher.  “It may not seem like much to you, but in Jesus’ hands little becomes a lot and small things like a child, five biscuits, and a couple of minnows are worth more than we can imagine.  It may not figure in the world’s view of things, but that’s kingdom math.  Give Jesus what you have and just see what He can do with it.”  The man said he was so stirred by that story and that sermon that God used it to change his life and to move him to invest even what he thought were little things into the kingdom of God.  Guess what?  The preacher he was talking about was me.

To tell the truth, I was taken aback by it.  So many times it feels like we're preaching to hard hearts and brick walls.  So many times we preachers feel like we might as well be shouting into an empty well.  Maybe like me, you've had the experience of preaching a sermon you thought would surely touch a particular individual's life only to have that person tell you after the sermon, "I hope people were listening today, preacher.  We've got some folks who sure needed to hear that."  Sheesh!  I know what God said through Isaiah—that God’s word will never return void, never come back empty once it’s spoken.  I know that, but I don’t often see the evidence of it in my own life.   Sure, preaching is not fully God’s word; it’s got a lot of the preacher’s words and biases and attitudes mixed in with it.  But God’s word is usually in there somewhere.  And it’s nice to know that now and then God’s strong word somehow cuts through my feeble words, lands on somebody’s heart, and comes back with some return for God and His kingdom.  I was encouraged.

Let’s face it, we preachers speak so many words, preach so many sermons, we can’t even remember them, let alone expect any lasting remembrance on the part of the parishioners who must endure those words Sunday by Sunday, year after year.  I know the old analogy that just as well-fed people can't tell you every meal they’ve ever eaten, parishioners can't tell you every sermon they’ve ever heard.  But it doesn’t mean they haven’t been well-fed along the way.  So it’s nice, now and then, to know that a sermon hit a bulls-eye in somebody’s heart, that God gave it life beyond the hours it took to prepare it and the 20 minutes it took to preach it, that it actually made a difference in a person’s life and in the kingdom of God.

I just wanted to share this to encourage the preachers who read it.  Hey, it doesn’t come back empty after all!  What you say, how God uses your words, is making a difference in the lives of many of the people who hear you.  Keep it up.  Don’t grow wearing in doing (and preaching) well.  You may not see much come of it just yet, but one day you will.  And if you don’t hear it much this side of heaven, I suspect you will hear it for sure on the other side.  It will amaze you and astound you.  It will stir yet more praise and glory to God.  And in spite of the fact that God wipes away our tears in heaven, when you hear what a difference your words actually made, you’ll probably sit down and weep with thanksgiving and joy.  All that preparation, all that teaching and preaching: it doesn’t come back empty after all.

So I went to preach yet another time in a revival service, and guess who came away most revived.

For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it (Isa. 55:10-11).

_________

*A footnote for you non-preachers who read this: every now and then, you’d give your pastor a real lift if you’d let him/her know how God used one of his/her sermons in your life.     

A Woman's Self-Esteem

Okay, I get it.  What in the heck is a man doing writing about a woman’s self-esteem?  The answer: taking a very large chance at being laughed off the face of the earth.  But since nobody much reads these thoughts anyway, I’m going for it.  And here’s why: a little experience I had with my granddaughter Macey Jo while visiting my daughter Kristen and her family in Texas last week.

Years ago I read a statement by entertainer Dinah Shore (people my age and older will know who she is; younger folks can Google her).  She said, “A woman’s self-esteem depends, in any given moment, on how she thinks she looks.”  And I thought men were shallow!  (Just kidding, ladies.)  In 35 years of marriage I've learned that Dinah spoke a lot of truth in that statement.  That was brought home to me once again through my youngest granddaughter Macey Jo a few days ago.

Macey Jo is almost three.  She’s the small one in the accompanying picture.  Notice what she’s wearing.  Kristen usually picks out the clothes Macey Jo wears each day, but she decided she’d let Macey’s big sister Hallie (the big one in the picture, almost five, really likes pink) pick out Macey’s clothes that day.  As you can see, Hallie dressed Macey Jo in red capri pants, an orange t-shirt, and a gray hooded-sweater.  Macey Jo herself chose the leopard print multi-colored rain boots to complete the ensemble.  (All this is in 100 degree Texas heat, by the way.)  Anyway, once the ensemble was complete, Macey Jo considered her little fashion statement and said, “I look awesome”—which sounded more like “awethome.”  Now Macey spends all summer at T-BAR-M Camp Travis, a Christian camp for teenagers, so she probably hears the word awesome about 100 times a day, but Kristen had never heard Macey say it even once.  “I look awethome.”  Macey Jo’s self-esteem was soaring.  Dinah Shore would be proud.

I’ll try not to get on my soapbox about the self-esteem cult in our culture—this whole idea that life is essentially about the self, that we must do everything we can to love self, exalt self, protect self, assert self, express self, satisfy self, promote self, talk about self, and feel good about self.  Even though Protagoras was a 5^th century BC Greek philosopher, he summed up the spirit of today’s American culture when he said, “Man is the center of all things.”  We Americans have sharpened that up a bit however: “Self is the center of all things.”  As a result we’ve become so concerned about a kid’s self-esteem that many parents cater to them, neglect to discipline them, bail them out of their troubles, and forget to teach them that they are also sinners in need of salvation and redemption and transformation.  We enforce this false teaching that they are essentially good and that life is all about them and their happiness.  It’s unfortunate, and it results in undisciplined, spoiled, self-centered kids (and later adults) who see everything through the lens of self.  What small lives such people live! “I look awethome.”

It’s okay to feel good about oneself.  And when rooted in Christ’s love and mercy in our lives, self-esteem allows us to be at peace with the self and okay with self without becoming self-absorbed or self-centered.  Christ-centered self-esteem allows us look at ourselves objectively, recognizing both our strengths and our sins.  Christ-centered self-esteem helps us not to take ourselves too seriously.  And it helps us remember that Christ, not self, is the center of all things.  That means we can be at peace with ourselves, feel okay about ourselves, and still value others more highly than we value ourselves.

Which brings me to another Macey Jo story from last week.  The camp where my son-in-law and daughter serve makes a big deal of July 4.  One of the events is a whiffle ball game between the camp coaches.  They put on the dog.  They serve hot dogs and popcorn and cotton candy.  They hang up American flags.  The “President” throws out the first pitch.  Announcers call the game.  And a “celebrity” sings the National Anthem.  My daughter was that “celebrity.”  Since they want this to be over-the-top, she wore a Cinderella princess-type dress for the singing—akin to a pink bridal dress with a hooping skirt that extended all the way to the floor.  It was gaudy.  It was supposed to be.  But as my daughter Kristen put on the dress and was readying her hair for the big event, Macey Jo approached her, put her hands on that big pink dress, looked up at her mom, and said, “You look wunnerful, Mama!”  It was a great moment.  I get to see so few of those moments with my grandkids, I’m thankful I got to see that one.  “You look wunnerful, Mama!”

And there you go—healthy self-esteem for every woman (and for every man).  She can say, “I look awethome!”  And she can turn around and say to another, “You look wunnerful!”—an honest, if merciful, appraisal of self, and the capacity to compliment others without any “self” in the comment.  None of this “You look wonderful” while thinking, “But I look better.”  None of this, “You look wonderful” but meaning “I’m so jealous and I really wish you didn’t look so wonderful because it makes me look worse.”  It was an honest, selfless compliment: “You look wunnerful, Mama.”

Thanks, Macey Jo, for teaching me a little bit about healthy self-esteem.  Art Linkletter was right: “Kids say the darnedest things.”  And as often as not, they teach us the truth in the process.        

A July 4th Letter to the Exiles

Man, did Jerusalem ever have it bad!  Of course, they brought it on themselves.  In spite of repeated warnings from the prophets to repent, they continued to pursue idolatry and social injustice.  Now they were paying the price.  The Babylonians had the city under siege and they’d already carted off to exile thousands of Jerusalemites (or whatever you call them).  False prophets had told the exiles not to worry, they wouldn’t be there long.  Jeremiah, a true prophet, knew better.  He knew they would be in Babylonian exile for 70 years or so.  Talk about a long time out!  They were in a land that worshiped all kinds of gods, a land whose values were certainly not rooted in the Law of Moses.  The Jews were strangers in a strange land. 

So Jeremiah wrote them a letter to tell them what to do (Jer. 29).  It’s interesting what he didn’t say.  He didn’t tell them to rebel, to take up arms, to organize some kind of underground resistance and become a thorn in the side of the Babylonians.  Quite to the contrary, Jeremiah told them settle in, get on with their lives, marry and have kids, build homes, plant gardens, and develop communities.  He also told them work for the peace and prosperity of whatever city they lived in and pray for its welfare.  It’s a great letter and not a little bit surprising.

You know, the deeper we get into the 21^st century, the more I feel like an exile in my own country.  I’m almost 57 years old and I can honestly say that this is not the America I grew up in.  I grew up in an America that for the most part reverenced God, legislated Christian values, and sort of propped up the church, even requiring most businesses to close on Sunday.  American doesn’t do any of that anymore.  And I know a lot of Christians who are very angry about it all.  Last week’s Supreme Court ruling which changed the federal understanding of marriage was one more in a lengthening line of defeats for Christian values.

While disappointing on many levels to see the drift of America away from traditional Christian moorings, evidence would indicate that the church often does better in settings that are indifferent or hostile to it.  It gives the church an opportunity to be radically different from the prevailing culture.  It keeps the church from drifting into the idolatry of nationalism.  And as opposition grows in the culture against the church, the cream of the church often rises to the top.  It’s not all bad.

It makes me wonder what God might say to those of us who are, as Peter called the church in the Roman Empire, “aliens in the land” (1 Pet. 2:17).  Would God tell us to get mad, right angry letters, excoriate pagans, take over government, and shove our Christian values down everybody’s throat—even those that aren't even Christian?  I’m no prophet, so I can't say for sure what God would tell us.  But I can do this: I can take a cue from God’s word through Jeremiah and compose a brief letter to us 21^st century exiles.

Dear Church,

I know who you are and I know where you live.  I see what’s going on in your country.  None of it catches me by surprise.  And in spite of what’s going on, I still love the world and that includes America.  So make yourself at home in the land where you live.  Continue to marry and have children.  Work for the peace and prosperity of America.  Pray for its leaders and its welfare.

And fulfill my mission.  Your culture has changed; your mission has not.  Love me with everything you’ve got.  Love your neighbor as yourself.  Worship me with joy.  Grow in holiness.  Treat all people with kindness grace.  Serve the widow, the orphan, and the poor.  Share the gospel of Jesus in your community and world.  Be prepared to give a reason for your hope, and do it with gentleness and respect.  Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with me.

I have a hope and a future for you that doesn’t depend on how Christian America is.  Seek me with all your heart, and trust me.  My hands are on the wheel.

Love,

God

Now I’m no Jeremiah the prophet; I’m just John the pastor.  So take this for what it’s worth.  But if God was sending a letter to us Christian exiles in America, maybe it would sound a little like that.

So in spite of the way things are going in our nation, there are still many blessings to enjoy and God’s mission to fulfill. Happy Independence Day, everyone!  And may God bless America.

Wise Guys

I’ve been praying through the Psalms for the last several months and had such a good time that I thought I’d go for the Proverbs too.  So that’s what I’m doing in my daily devotions: praying through Proverbs, one chapter a day.  As I was praying through chapter 4 last Friday, I felt compelled to give God thanks for the wise people He has put in my life across the years.  Those people never said much.  I doubt they considered themselves all that wise.  And I’m not sure they had a clue some word they said to me would be just the wisdom I needed at the time.  But that’s the way God has worked wise people into my life.  And what a blessing!

You want to hear something funny?  Not three hours after praying through Proverbs 4 and thanking God for putting wise people in my life, God did it again.  We were having a party at our house on Friday night, and I needed to borrow about ten chairs and a six-foot table from the church to provide adequate sitting for our meal.  I got the chairs loaded, but had a hard time with the table.  I drive an Equinox.  It has a hatch, but I couldn’t get the table in deep enough to close the hatch all the way.  No problem, right?  I’d hauled a few other times with the hatch ajar.  So I pulled out of the church parking lot and turned down Central (the busiest street in our city).  I didn’t make it 200 feet till the hatch flew up and the table flew out.  Thankfully, one of our church members, Gary Brown, was behind me.  He stopped, preventing an accident.  And by the time I got back to the scene, Gary had moved the table off the street.  Dang, that’s a sturdy table—not a scratch on it (this is in case the church property committee reads this).  No, really, not a scratch.  Gary followed me to my car.  I said, “You know, I wish they made the Equinox about four inches longer.”  And Gary said, “Did you try to move your front seats up?”

“Uh … no.”

“Let’s move your front seat forward.”

He did and miracle of miracles, it fit right in there.  I felt like an idiot.  I said, “Gary, God gave me some smarts in some things, but I’m a total bust on things mechanical.”  I needed Gary’s wisdom in that moment, and God provided it.  And he didn’t even treat me like the idiot I was.  I suspect he just had pity.

But God has always done stuff like that for me—put people with wisdom I need in the right place at the right time.  These things aren’t coincidences; these things are providence.  And across the years I’ve held on to those tidbits of wisdom people have provided me along the way.  Some of them have been face to face; some of them have been in books.

“Let’s move your front seat forward.”  Now, I can’t wait to find something to haul just to look smart for a change.

“Things are never as bad as they seem or as good as they seem.”  Has always helped me keep perspective.

“A woman doesn’t want you to fix her problems; she just wants you to listen.”  Still trying to get that one down.

“Pick your battles carefully.”  This helps in parenting, marriage, pastoring, and most everything else.

“Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak up and remove all doubt.”  This helps me measure my words.  I should pay more attention to this bit of wisdom.

“You’re here now.”  Years ago, when I was agonizing over my move to Hot Springs, a friend said those three words (well, four not counting the contraction) and God used that to settle my heart.  In just the past few months, this bit of wisdom was amplified for me when I read Jim Eliot’s words, “Wherever you are, be all there.”  For someone like me whose mind is often in the clouds, I really need to remember this.

“When everything is coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.”  Sorry about that.  That’s from Larry the Cable Guy and I just think it’s funny … and sometimes even true.

“Believe half the criticism and half the praise and you’ll stay on an even keel.”  This helps me stay humble yet confident.

“The difference between just any word and the right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.”  Mark Twain said that.  He should know.  He was pretty good with words.  I think about that a lot as I preach and teach.  Twain also offered these wise words, “When angry, count to ten.  When very angry, cuss.”  Well, maybe there are wiser ways to respond to one’s anger.

“A pastor needs the mind of a scholar, the heart of a child, and the hide of a rhinoceros.”  J. H. Jowett said that. and man, is it both wise and true.

I could go on.  I could quote any number of Proverbs or even some of the sayings of Jesus.  After all, Proverbs affirms more than once that "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."  One of the great things about God is that when we reverence Him and listen for His voice, He can drop a little wisdom on us from any number of sources.  Socrates regarded himself as the wisest man in Athens because he alone knew how little he knew.  Socrates was on to something there.  An awareness of what we don’t know keeps us open to learn, open to profit from and appreciate the wisdom God gives us through others.

I’ve shared a few wisdom bites that have been good for me?  What is one of your favorite bits of wisdom you’ve gathered along the way?

Faithful Through All Generations

I’ve been baptizing people for over 32 years.  I’m sure I could find the number if I wanted to dig it out, but I know that number is near 1,000 and probably more.  Some of those baptisms stand out. 

It’s a powerful moment to stand over the deathbed of eleventh-hour converts to Christ, pour water over them, announcing the words, “Buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in a brand new life.”  That’s been my privilege a number of times over the decades.  And though these folks don’t have long to live on earth, baptism declares that death loses and life wins.  Baptism declares that just as Jesus was raised from the dead, His followers will also be raised to life eternal.  That’s a powerful promise no matter when you are baptized; it’s more powerful yet when the beady, bloodshot eyes of Death are staring you in the face.

Baptizing hardened sinners is a thrill too.  I’m talking about those folks who arched their backs and dug in their heels when it came to God.  I’m talking about folks who at one point in their lives said, “There is no God!”  And folks who said, “Some people need God, but I don’t.”  And folks who said, “God is not going to tell me what to do.”  When people like this come to Christ after years of being loved and prayed for by the church, well, their baptism deepens the faith of believers and stirs shouts of joy to our holy, loving God who is slow to anger, full of mercy, and gives people time to repent.  It’s pretty special to baptize folks like this.

But, you know, maybe the baptisms that have meant the most to me (and it may sound kind of selfish) have been the baptisms of my children and my oldest two grandchildren.  I’m thinking about that because this past Sunday I had the high privilege of baptizing my eight-year-old granddaughter, Reese.  In spite of having a great pastor Reese loves dearly, she asked me to perform the baptism.  She and her family are part of a church plant called the Journey Campus of Central Baptist Church in Jonesboro, Arkansas.  Their church meets in the Student Union at Arkansas State University.  Needless to say, there is no baptistery, so they bring in a cattle trough, fill it with warm water, have the candidates sit in the water, and then baptize them accordingly.  It’s pretty cool.  And it’s even cooler when my granddaughter Reese is the one in the water.

I suppose the thing that touches me most deeply is seeing God’s word and promises come true before my eyes.  I’ve been praying through the Psalms for several months now, and one phrase that keeps showing up along the way is this one: “Your faithfulness continues through all generations” (Ps. 119:90).  I don’t think I had the same kind of appreciation for that in my younger years than I do as a man who’s got fifty-six years behind him.  Baptizing my children should have brought that home to me, but it really didn’t.  I don’t know why.  Maybe it’s because I was an on-duty parent and busy with those responsibilities on top of everything else.  The busy-ness of life can lead parents to miss the deep sacredness of certain moments in the lives of our children.  Even though we’re present, we don’t always lay hold of the full meaning of it. 

But it’s different when you’re a grandparent.  In some ways it’s even more satisfying to see your adult children raising their children to be followers of Christ.  And what makes that even better is that for our adult children following Jesus and commitment to His church is not a convenience thing or ritual thing; it’s a life thing.  It’s deep with them.  It’s not just something they do; it’s who they are … and now who they are training their children to be.  And they couldn’t’ do that nearly as well if they hadn’t wisely chose life-partners who share the same love and devotion to Christ and His church. 

“Your faithfulness continues through all generations.”  I’m grateful that when I look back, I’ve been on the receiving end of that faithfulness through the faith of parents and grandparents.  And I’m grateful that now I’m seeing that faithfulness worked out into the future through my children and grandchildren.  And here’s the deal: this didn’t come about because my parents or my wife and I were such great Christians.  We’ve got our flaws and inconsistencies like everyone else.  No, it’s not because we are good but because God is great, not because we did everything right but because God does all things well, not because we were special but because God is faithful—faithful to His word, faithful to His promises, faithful to His people.  “Your faithfulness continues through all generations.”

I’m just sorry it took me almost fifty-seven years to appreciate that.

____________

P.S. The Journey Campus asks all who are baptized to share their story via video just prior to their baptism.  Here's a link to Reese's video.

http://vimeo.com/67985790

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire

Ouch!  This one really hurts.  A 2012 Gallup poll rated the “honest and ethical standards” of 22 different yet common vocations.  Which vocation do you think came in first?  Nurses—85% of respondents ranked nurses as “high to very high” in matters of honesty and ethics. 

God bless nurses.  They are often up to their elbows in bed pans and buttocks.  They have to give spit baths.  They deal with patients who are not at their best, people who can be pushy, demanding, and ungrateful.  They deal with busy doctors who don’t always respond quickly.  While they usually show up at the bedside bearing helping hands, they also show up bearing needles and IVs and catheters they have to stick in their patients.  God bless nurses.  No way I could do what they do.  But the most honest vocation?  “I’ll be right back to take care of that.”  “The doctor will be by in a few minutes.”  “You can start having ice chips this afternoon.”  “You’re going to like the jello.”  Really?

Also high on the “honesty and ethics” scale are doctors and dentists.  I know many fine doctors and dentists—incredibly bright men and women who truly care about the people they serve, and they seek to do their very best.  But do they always tell the truth?  “I’m sure this medicine will fix you right up.”  “It’s definitely not cancer.”  “I’ll call you with the test results on Tuesday.”  “This won’t hurt a bit.”  “I will see you at 2:00.”  “Just one more little touch with the drill will finish this up.”  Yeah, right.

Another vocation that’s near the top is pharmacists—75% of respondents ranked them “high to very high” in honesty and ethics.   I get this one.  As long as a pharmacist gets the right medicine in the right bottle with the right label to the right person and charges a fair price, how can a pharmacist be anything but honest and ethical?  Plus, if things don’t go right they can always blame the doctor.  No beef here.

Other vocations high on the list are engineers, cops, and college professors.  Engineers better be right or buildings could fall down, bridges could collapse, airplanes fall out of the sky, vehicles catch fire, and property line disputes could reignite Hatfield and McCoy feuds all over the country.  And if you can’t trust cops, we’re all in trouble.  Sure there are crooked cops, but they work very hard to police themselves at that point.  I get engineers and cops, but college professors?  You know, I can’t say that I’ve ever had a college or seminary professor intentionally lie to me or try to convince me to believe something they believed to be untrue.  So, good for college professors!  I’m glad they scored high on the scale.

But let me tell you who didn’t score so well: car dealers and members of Congress scored the lowest.  Probably no surprise there for most of us.  But here’s the one that hurts me: only 52%—barely half of those polled—ranked ministers as being “high to very high” in honesty and ethics.  Ouch!  That’s my vocation.  And we ministers are supposed to traffic in the truth because we represent the One who called himself the Truth.

So why the low number for ministers?  I can only speculate here.  Don’t you imagine some of it comes from the fallout of a number of high profile ministers who have morally or financially crashed and burned since the 1980s—the Jim Bakkers and the Jimmy Swaggerts and, more recently, the Ted Haggards.  These are men who had a huge platform yet apparently preached one thing in public and lived a very different way in private.  The same goes for the recent child abuse scandal involving Roman Catholic priests.  I suspect a lot of honest, upright ministers who genuinely try to practice what they preach are lumped in with ministers like that in the age-old game called “guilt by association.”

Perhaps another reason is the growing cynicism in our culture that finds it hard to believe much anybody about much of anything, a culture that seems to enjoy watching people fail and fall, a culture that assumes most everybody is on the take or in it for themselves—even ministers.

And then there are ministers who lie on their resumes and plagiarize sermons others have preached yet allow their people to believe the sermon is their own.

But there are other reasons too.  Sometimes we ministers don’t tell people the truth.  “Give my ministry a hundred dollars and God will give you a thousand dollars.”  “Name it and claim it.”  “If you just have enough faith, God will heal your cancer.”  “Your poverty is not an economic issue, it’s a faith issue: God wills for you to be rich and healthy.”  When people hear that crock of bull, believe it, and then find it’s just not so, it’s no big jump to assume that ministers don’t always tell the truth.

But we ministers can also shade the truth in other ways.  I don’t know why, but most ministers have a lot of people-pleaser in them.  We typically like people and we want them to like us back.  We want to encourage people and help people.  As the old saying goes, we like to “comfort the afflicted.”  Where we may be too quick to shade the truth is when we refuse to “afflict the comfortable.”  We’re trying to lead and grow a church.  We don’t want to hurt attendance or donations.  It’s too easy for us to fall into what Paul called “ear-tickling”—telling people what they want to hear instead of telling them the truth.  It’s too easy for us to join the league of false prophets in the Old Testament who, even though Babylon was breathing down their neck, told the people that all would be well, that God had no issues over the people’s idolatry and lack of repentance.  Prophets like that were easy to love.  Prophets like Elijah and Jeremiah—prophets who spoke the sometimes uncomfortable truth—were not.  In fact, prophets who spoke the truth took a lot of abuse.  Some even got killed for it.

Maybe that’s why we preachers sometimes shade the truth in our day.  We want to be liked.  We want to be popular.  We want to grow the organization.  And we don’t want to be abused.  So we shy away from issues like greed and idolatry and giving and sexual ethics and hell and sacrifice and commitment.  We are quick to speak of the love of God and neglect to mention His wrath.  Rather than saying, “Ninety-five per cent commitment is five per cent too short” (thanks, Bill Hybels), we say, “Ninety-five, seventy-five, twenty-five, just whatever level of commitment works for you.”  Instead of preaching sermons that exalt Christ and expose our sin and call us to deeper transformation and devotion, we preach a bunch of “practical” how-to sermon series (how to have a happier marriage, how to succeed in life, how to overcome depression, how to raise successful kids, how to get God on your agenda).  People like that stuff—even though they can find it on the self-help shelf at any bookstore in town.  “It helps me live my life better,” they say.  But does it help them live the Christ-life better?  Bottom-line: we tend to make church about “me” instead of about Christ and the Gospel.  And when we do, we shade the truth.  And while people may like us ministers when we do, in their heart of hearts, they don’t believe us.  And they shouldn’t.

I’ve been at this ministry thing for 35 years.  I understand the struggle.  Age and experience have helped me move past the people-pleaser need—though it still raises its head in me from time to time.  But here’s my suggestion to us ministers: let’s tell the truth.  Let’s speak the truth in love even when it hurts us to say it and hurts people to hear it.  Let’s speak it at the right time, in the right way, and with the right spirit.  Let’s also tell the truth by the way we live so that our deeds are so close to our words that any disconnect people notice is the exception rather than the rule.  And let’s trust God in the telling and let the chips fall where they may.

You’ve heard the old taunt, “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”  Many Christian leaders across history have had pants on fire all right, but it was because they told the truth.  And while I wouldn’t wish fire on anyone, I would wish the truth for everyone.   

— For links to the poll check here: http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2012/12/the-seven-people-americans-trust-more-than-their-pastor.html