Holy Man

I have a new friend who is a fitness expert. He is a great guy, very smart, and training for an iron man event. (the iron man is a swimming, biking, and running thing) in the course of our conservations he asked me “what do you do for a living?” I love this question. I told him that I was a pastor and he said, “You don’t seem like a pastor”. Wow, is that good or bad?
I pushed on his answer a little and learned a lot. It seems that we pastors have a rap of being aloof and unapproachable. I really don’t know the reason but there is a big misconception. As I pushed I got another enlightening comment. He asked “are you the same with your congregation as you are with me?” It seems that we pastors have a reputation for being “shady”. Tara chimed in on that one with “what you see is what you get”. I think she meant that as a complement.
Ok, to the point, if we are going to lead like Christ we must lead with our lives. The very ministry of Jesus was the incarnation. He came to show us Himself, God in flesh, so that we might know God. I must allow people to know the God who lives in me. I realize that I am flawed and broken and at best God is a blurry image in me, but I must give people my life. Paul, the apostle, said in 1 Thessalonians “we not only gave you the gospel but our lives as well”. Leadership is about relationships. Relationships make life rich.
I have learned from my fit friend that he needs to see Jesus in me before he will see Jesus for himself. It is so sobering to know that I am a Holy Man who carries the gospel. O, if you are a Christ follower, so are you!