Preachers are people, too

I’m not convinced the Houston Home Journal is the most appropriate place for preachers to publicly confess their faults, but I hope the editor and the readers will afford me a little space for grace.

So here goes … I failed. I messed up. I dropped the ball. It happens. Preachers are people too. But perhaps I should be a little more specific, lest idle minds begin to imagine the worst and rumors begin to circulate.

Here is my confession: it is my goal to read the Bible through every single year. I failed in 2021. In fact, I failed pretty miserably. I only got about halfway and quit. Somewhere around mid-year I fell behind in my reading plan, got discouraged and gave up. I am certainly not boasting, rather it shames me to acknowledge this. However, it is my hope that my candid confession will encourage both myself and others to do better in this new year.

Let me clarify a few things. First, there is not a day that goes by that I do not read Scripture. As a pastor who takes pulpit time seriously, I regularly read and study God’s Word in preparation for preaching. Something I learned early in the ministry is this, for preachers – Sundays are like the children’s game hide-and-seek; ready or not, here they come! In other words, come Sunday morning, God’s sheep are going to show up for worship, and they rightly expect to be fed. Believe me when I say, churchgoers will be there, whether I’m prepared to preach or not. Knowing this, every day I am reading and re-reading the upcoming text and its context. I am also reading numerous study Bibles in various translations to glean all I can about the passage. I am reading commentaries, both old and new, while doing word studies. So, I am in God’s Word.

However, any honest minister must acknowledge, reading for the sake of preaching is simply not enough to feed and satisfy one’s own soul. Don’t misunderstand me. Anytime a believer is sifting through the Scriptures, asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten their eyes and understanding, it is beneficial and edifying. Nevertheless, a pastor has to be more than a sermon factory. If you are a church leader and you are reading this, will you not acknowledge with me, that reading and studying the Bible, only for sermon prep, will soon run the well dry? Pastor friend, will you not agree that without a disciplined walk with God in your own personal life, including a daily reading of God’s Word; you may be able to manufacture messages, while your own heart is cold and indifferent? I state this truth about the inward workings of the ministry, not from a voice of criticism, but of confession. Reader, before you rush to judgment, let me remind you – preachers are people too. The best of men, are men at best!

This past year, I allowed the busyness of life to hinder my own private devotion and spiritual disciplines (Colossians 3:16). I allowed lesser things to rob me of the cleansing nature of God’s Word (Ephesians 5:26). I foolishly spent too much time on trivial matters, while denying my soul the sanctifying work of the Spirit that is the direct result of consistent communion with God in His Word (John 17:17). Further still, I failed to practice what I preach. Or more to the point of this newspaper, I failed to follow my own counsel. In January of 2021, I wrote an article entitled, “You can and you should read your Bible.” Then neglected to do that very thing. Forgive me. Preachers are people too.

I suppose I could offer any number of excuses as to why this happened. But the truth is, I allowed it to happen. Yes, I started a “part-time” job at UPS, which is anything but part-time. Between pastoring and my secular job, my average workweek is 75-80 hours. Though somehow, I strangely still manage to find time for binge watching Netflix and my favorite sports. Stands to reason, I can (we all can) make time to read God’s wonderful Word.

Like everyone else, I cannot undo the past. I cannot change the failures of yesterday (or last year). All I can do is confess my faults, both before God and men; seek forgiveness and strive to do better today. I want to succeed where I failed. I am going to start over, again. This New Year – 2022, God’s mercies are new, and I will again attempt to read through the Bible. In case you didn’t know, it takes less than 15 minutes a day to read the entire Bible in one year. Yes, just 15 minutes a day. I say that to my shame and for your encouragement. If like me, you’ve failed … start over. Even if it takes you 14 months, or 18 months, keep plodding.

For those Christians who seemingly never tire of making excuses of how inconsequential it is to actually read the entire Bible, hear me when I say – it matters. It matters a great deal. Failing to daily absorb the wholesomeness of God’s Holy Word in a consistent organized manner, has affected my thought life, my priorities, in fact – the whole of my walk with Christ. Don’t try and tell me it doesn’t matter, it does. I have lived it over the last several months.

All of us need more than what we get on Sundays, or what we get when preparing for Sundays … we need to stay in the Word, so the Word will stay in us!

2 Timothy 3:14-17 “But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

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