Big Bills

From the 11/2/16 Weekly Update by Tim Keller

The other day I was sitting at a large conference table in a room filled with pastors as the district superintendent shared a devotional from Colossians 1:17. The words of the Apostle Paul rang out, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

He then explained that the power of the statement that everything is held together by Jesus releases us (pastors) from the idea that we need to hold all things together ourselves.

One pastor, obviously fresh off of a difficult meeting with his leadership team, grumbled that when we don’t try to hold everything together we get blamed by the members of the church. Thus, in a few mumbled words he captured the notion of why we clergy so often live our lives always feeling that we need to solve the problems, clear up the conflicts and find the answers to whatever is ailing the local church.

The idea that it is Jesus who holds things together could serve to free me from the pressure to be the spiritual lifeguard who blows the whistle and shouts the rules to people to keep them from drowning.

As the devotional concluded I reflected on how often I had tried to wrap my arms around a problem and control the outcome. I was reminded of the times I had fretted about a matter instead of turning it over to Jesus to fix. Right there I dedicated myself to doing a better job of not embracing the role of “Sr. Fixer” and learn to rest in Jesus and His ability to deal with the struggles I encounter on a daily basis. I surrendered my need to fix broken marriages, uninterested youth, budget shortfalls, lack of passion for evangelism and the constant need for new volunteers. As the superintendent closed in prayer I felt better about things. A certain amount of burden was lifted from my shoulders.

As I drove home from the meeting I received a call from the elevator company. Our CAC elevator had stopped functioning a few days earlier and I was told that the part needed to repair it would cost $600 (not counting labor). When I got back to the office Pastor Doug shared with me that the new microphone we need to replace my headpiece would cost CAC nearly $900.

Guess what happened? Yep. Immediately I was thrust back into the role of trying to figure out how to deal with these big bills and the impact they would have on our budget. My hours-old recommitment was suddenly a distant memory as I started processing the “hit” that these unexpected bills would have on our church. Options rolled through my head and I could feel the tenseness gripping my soul.
This time, after just a few seconds of fretting, Holy Spirit reminded me that Jesus holds CAC together (not me) and Jesus knew about these big bills a thousand years ago. Jesus can lay it on the heart of the repair people to give us a discount, let us pay a bit at a time, raise up a giver to cover the costs, or a thousand other really cool displays of His glory.

Once again I released my grip on solving problems and stepped back to give Him a little extra room to come through.

I’m so glad that having learned this valuable lesson I’ll never struggle with it again.

Until tomorrow.