Guest writer - Marty Broadwell Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. Hebrews 13:17 In the final devotion of this four part series, Marty shares with us the grief our shepherds feel when there is murmuring in the flock, and they joy we give them when we provide useful and constructive feedback. Grief: Talking to others, but not to the elders, about dissatisfaction or disapproval. There is no doubt that we provide plenty of reason for complaining, as we fail to address problems that are important to many, but murmuring is a contagious disease in the flock. The Israelites murmuring against Moses was punished as severely as their golden-calf idolatry (see I Corinthians 10:9-11), and Paul says it happened as an example to us. (We are blessed at Embry Hills that there is very little of this kind of behavior. Many discourage it.) Joy: Our greatest insights come from those women and men who are thoughtful and committed enough to take the time to provide feedback and suggestions (often carefully written). It is our best source of ideas, and it is an invaluable insight into the mood of the flock. Not only that, it is a great comfort to us when we can observe sacrificial tolerance of our procrastination and often unsuccessful attempts to improve things. Father, we thank you for our shepherds, and we pray you will help us to obey and submit to them so that their work might be joyful and not grievous.
Posted on: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 12:47:08 +0000
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