The Pastoral Opportunity

Photo by Ben White on Unsplash

As God works out His purposes in people’s lives, as suffering,
as pastor, work comfort into their lives through His grace.

As suffering works into people’s lives,
work out of His grace in their presence…
so they may see Him,
and respond in faith.

What do I mean by this?

As the circumstances of life conspire against us, we all need the ministry of God to know He is threefold, concerned and real and able. God cares. God’s alive. God can help and heal and grow us through trial. He and His role, therefore, is the purpose of our lives to which we’re called to.

Only as we’re invited in, and we do enter their struggle, do they experience the outworking of His grace into their own lives. In struggle, they’re both most needy and teachable. Their hearts are piqued and they’re responsive, more than ever, but importantly only then in some persons, whom the Spirit has stirred.

The pastoral opportunity is dormant until the need arises, which is not saying that pastoral work doesn’t occur in the meantime. Some of the best work occurs before the crisis in trusting God sufficiently, that loving a person as He loves them is always a privilege; the calling.

The point of the pastoral opportunity is the work that goes in beforehand. People may only run to us for support because we’ve taken the time to care about them beforehand.

People allow us to care for them
when they know we care about them.

Pastoral work is patience, in that it trusts that the opportunity will come. That the need will arise.

And even if it doesn’t come, that it is perfectly acceptable to be on ‘light’ terms with anyone and everyone. We’re here for the Lord, and not to have our own needs of intimacy met.

Indeed, light terms is blessedness for which to be grateful, for we have not yet been called into the immediacy of need which we’re most needy of God’s grace for, which is, of itself, its own form of crisis.

It is good to be there when we’re needed, and great to be there when we’re not.