What is a Pastor's Wife Supposed to Do?
Shepherding the flock of God can prove one of the most exciting, enriching, and satisfying duties a man can undertake on this side of heaven. Yet shepherding the flock of God is not a particularly safe enterprise. It is a life-work that exposes the man of God to a multiplicity of trials, deep disappointments, searing heartaches, and haunting questions from within and without.
The Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century triggered a new wave of bloody conflict in Medieval Europe - a tract of real estate along which evolving nations had marinated in a cauldron of tumult for many long, dark centuries. Protestant regions broke up Rome's monopoly on authority in Europe. But neutralizing an authority is one thing; replacing it is quite another matter and Europe tumbled into near anarchy. Nation warred against nation, and region against region, in an all-out scramble to gain control of the rudder of European destiny.
His detractors, who were as vicious as they were many and formidable, called him the "black dwarf." He was really a giant. Although his contemporaries mocked his physical appearance, he stands tall on the pages of Church history and serves to this day as a beacon of brilliant light to those who follow his Lord. Those who invest time and energy in advancing the cause of Christ do well to consider the legacy of Athanasius of Alexandria (296-373 A. D.).
As perhaps nothing else, unjust suffering exposes the heart. In recent days we have witnessed this maxim in unprecedented ways.
On September 11, terrorist acts submerged our unsuspecting nation into a cauldron of shocked disbelief, bitter anguish, seething anger, and gnawing uncertainty. These acts also wrenched open a window into America's soul that had been painted shut for a long time. Passions of patriotic zeal, life-sacrificing courage, and fraternal compassion-all of which typically flow undetected below the surface of the American spirit-were suddenly exposed to plain view.
It might seem that filling your own stomach with food is about as self-oriented an act as one could perform. On the other hand few things could be more boring than watching someone else eat. It would seem to follow, then, that eating would be a private affair. But ironically eating is an inherently social activity that invites communication.
Whether you supported the U.S. war effort to topple Saddam Hussein and his henchmen or decried that offensive as unjust, foolhardy or both, we should all agree on at least two points. First, the allied armies removed a really bad chap. Let the record show, Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party gestapo gassed, shot, tortured, dismembered, maimed, raped, fleeced, and generally bullied an awful number of Iraqis for a very long period of time. An evil dictator has fallen.
Tozer does not mean, of course, that one's words or actions are of little consequence. He means, rather, that one's view of God serves as the control center for one's words and actions (Luke 6:43-45; James 4:1). False views about God will naturally, and inevitably, issue forth in a lifestyle that, despite all pretensions to the contrary, dishonors God (Matthew 23:1-36). Conversely, right beliefs about God have the potential to fuel genuinely righteous deeds.
It is high time tribute was given to a group of unsung heroes. It is time you were honored as the true warriors you are. You are the parents who faithfully transport little bodies with you to a house of worship week after grueling week.