The day one offers himself to God for the work of the Christian ministry
he takes upon himself a set of serious personal problems, along with his
problems of leadership and service. He proposes to do God’s work, and that
means also to be God’s man. He must be that amid difficult conditions,
under constant scrutiny, and in the face of frequent misjudgment.
One of his problems is to keep the spirit of reverence in his life. Human
nature tends to handle ever more familiarly the things with which it has
to do. Nadab and Abihu would have been afraid to offer strange fire if
they had not allowed themselves to become too familiar with the things of
the sanctuary. God, the church, and human hearts are all things our
relationship to which should hush our souls.
Another of his problems, and one of his chief ones, is to keep the stamp
of reality upon himself and his ministry. Holy tones, unnatural attire,
and affected mannerisms are all banes to the ministry. They have cost
many a man his usefulness, and limited that of many others. The church
would gain immeasurably if today every one of her army of ministers would
undertake in a simple human way to represent normal manhood at its best.
Certainly that is what Jesus did.
Another of his problems is that of his social contacts. If he does not
appear in public he is branded as a recluse. If he appears too much he
becomes known as a loafer. He must find the golden mean. To know how much
to appear, how to appear, when to appear, and the secret of mingling and
dealing with people of all kinds without compromising one’s self with any
is a fine art, and happy is the one who masters it.
Still another of his problems is how to keep growing. Too many ministers
become unacceptable in middle life, not because they have aged, but
because they have ceased to grow. The most pitiful thing about these men
is that none of them seems to know quite what is wrong. Such a time need
not come. It does not come to those who read, and think, and keep
interested in and sympathetic toward the life of a growing world.