2 Timothy 2:24-26) The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will.
I want us to focus again on the passage of scripture out of 2 Timothy. As Paul is nearing the end of his life here on earth, he leaves a very sober reminder for the young pastor Timothy. In the beginning of chapter 2 Paul reminds Timothy "to be careful of how you handle the word of God." The handling of God's Word, by God's man will (I believe), ultimately, lead to how God's man responds to His opposition in the ministry. If a man who is loose with the word of God, I believe he will respond loosely (not well) to his opposition.
Paul tells Timothy in the text, "when someone wrongs you be patient." I believe this commandment is much easier said than done. If you are a pastor (elder) you have been called to a higher accountability to the Lord. One qualification for an elder is that "he has a good report from those who are outside of the church (1 Timothy 3:7)." This can sometimes be a difficult qualification to fulfill. Especially, in a world in which people are so quick to "run you over." Lets face it we live in a "dog eat dog" world.
Nonetheless, for God's men we are "to be patient when someone wrongs us." I remember very clear at the last church I served I was called to the carpet before the deacon body. There was a lady within the church who had been offended for various reasons by me. She wanted to meet with me and the deacons to "tell me a few things on her mind." She had wrote a 4 page letter and sat and read every bit of it to me. I will confess a "few" items were true (which I did apologize and ask for her forgiveness). The large majority of the letter written was "hear say."
I sat there as she read this very vindictive letter to me and before my deacons. When she was finished I sat quietly. She wanted to know, "what I had to say about what she had read to me." Which I said was, in order for your accusations to have validity the bible says you need "to bring two of three others against an elder (2 Tim.5:19)." Which she said, "they did not want to get involved." By the power of the Holy Spirit I prayed for God to keep my mouth shut and for me"to be patient as I felt I was being wronged."
I do not believe we should allow people to run over us. At the same time we need to be as "wise as a serpent and gentle as a dove." There are times as pastors we must be "patient" with our people (or others), rather than blowing them out of the water and giving them down the road, when we are wronged, we need to love them. The next part of the verse we will consider is, "with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition."
I pray this would help some pastor today. Be patient with your people as the Lord is patient with you!
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