Guest Blogger, Laura Smith
A righteous judge always considers all the evidence and statements from eyewitnesses before coming to a verdict. A skilled judge perceives the heart of the matter and discerns whether a person is lying or being honest. He has been in the business long enough and has seen enough people come through who were very convincing, and even has memories of cases that came through his courtroom in his early years that he second guessed himself on his ruling.
Don’t be mistaken – accusations WILL come. There are always those who will cause division and strife in the Body of Christ by their words and actions. Oh, that we could avoid such people – but they will always be with us. It is something that we as pastors and ministers need to be constantly aware of for several reasons.
As we live our lives in the famed “glass bowl” we are responsible for our actions and the words we speak. All of us have made mistakes or said things we wish we hadn’t. Whether said in exaggeration, or just said in wrong timing causing misunderstanding – we are made constantly aware of the fact that the words we, as pastors speak, carry more weight than anything others may say. Whether it is fair or not doesn’t matter – it is so.
