Tears, Strength, Final Words, Substance and Content Which Can Reassure and Satisfy
How do you react and respond when you witness a man revealing deep emotions? Can we learn lessons from the Bible about how to handle our feelings? I do not know of anywhere better? The Bible is not a psychological text book but it covers all the crucial issues and areas covered by psychology.
In the book of Acts in Chapter 20 and at verse 17 we read how this powerful and concerned man of God, Paul, pours out his tender and sensitive heart. There are those who regard Paul as a hard and harsh guy who was not likely to reveal what might behind this perceived exterior. I do not know how some people get these erroneous thoughts and notions.
Paul is speaking for the final time in his life with these leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ, from Ephesus in western Turkey.
Final words are important.
This was the man who spoke about joy and rejoicing. Ah, there can be rejoicing and peace - with tears flowing down one's cheeks. I believe that only - only - the disciple of Jesus Christ experiences such profound spiritual reality. Is that too big a claim? But remember, suffering is the balancing factor.
There are times when God comes and drops a little suffering into our lives. We may think we do NOT need THAT, but HE sees that we do.
Paul wept often. He is so honest and open. This is the normal Christian experience. This is reality of ministry in the Kingdom of God.
Paul had this beautiful knack of talking about himself, without being proud or arrogant or conceited or self-centered.
He is quite open and honest as he recounts - "Many a time I was severely tested by the plots of the Jews - and you know - verse 20 - I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you. I have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have withheld nothing. I have taught everything that would help you and benefit you and encourage you and bless you. I taught in public, and I taught in your homes - lecture hall and living room - and at the centre and heart of my preaching was the call to repent and have faith." That is the gist of what he is saying to these colleagues in Christ.
We have something of the content of his preaching. What we preach and teach needs to have content - substance - something substantial, which will satisfy, sustain and strengthen. In fact, when you go on and read his letters, which were normally responding to problematic matters which arose in other churches, we have the basis of his preaching and teaching. It is so good that Almighty God had all this written down and preserved - and He has kept it secure down through the centuries, even when men were seeking to destroy its very existence.
Substance and content are essential.
Imagine going out for a meal, when you were hungry, and being served up two little cornflakes and a thimbleful of milk, and some artificial sweetener. That would be quite inadequate - unsatisfying - and not fulfilling our hopes and needs.
If you are in a preaching and teaching ministry - or if you have a position of spiritual responsibility -seek to satisfy those who are present with spiritual food that is nourishing and satisfying.
Sandy Shaw
Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.
He broadcasts regularly on WSHO radio out of New Orleans, and writes a weekly commentary at http://www.studylight.org entitled "Word from Scotland" on various biblical themes, as well as a weekly newspaper column.
His M.A. and B.D. degrees are from The University of Edinburgh, and he continues to run and exercise regularly to maintain a level of physical fitness.
Sandy Shaw sandyshaw63@yahoo.com