While I was rereading ‘The Pastor’ by Eugene Peterson last week, I was struck again by the nature of my full time role as a pastor. I have a strange job. I am employed in the service of a people in order to shine as a consistent spotlight on the invisible God. He is there. He is not silent. But He IS invisible.
I have never seen Him, but I know Him. I talk with Him.
I recognize that my job is to fight back the tendency within the people entrusted to me, to see their days as primarily material. Diapers need changing, students need teaching, packages need to be delivered, stuff needs to be engineered . . . Most people live in a VERY material world.
But I am impressed by the reality that at the center point of the Jewish temple in the Old Testament, in the Most Holy Place sat the ark of the covenant. And the focal point of all of that worship was called the mercy seat. It was an empty space in between two golden carved angels. God was not represented there, but the invisible was at the center of God’s established worship.
I meet with people during the week, I study the invisible . . . And I seek to make Him known, make Him cherished, make Him trusted by a very earthy and material people. I believe with every fiber of my being that He is our Creator, He has sent His Son, He is available to guide, support, sustain, empower, convict, and save His people. I also firmly believe that the greatest hope available to ANYONE is connection to the invisible God by faith.
I have never seen Him with my eyes. But I am eager to shine a spotlight on the invisible. So many pastors (like me) are tempted to try to be cool. We want to be liked. We want to be important. We want to be respected as busy and valuable.
But at the center of the calling comes a humility that will be defeated by achieving any of those other aims. I am a spotlight shining on an empty space that requires FAITH. As soon as I make busy-ness my goal. Or respect my goal. Or hipness as my goal. I have exchanged the purpose of my calling for lesser things.
I want to be the best spotlight possible, reminding everyone who knows me, that this world is NOT all there is. There is a God who made you, who knows you, and who still loves You. But here’s the catch, you must first believe that He exists. I can’t prove it, but I can lend you my confidence if you need it. I want to be a pastor quick to pass off your attention to another. If you look to me, look carefully where I am pointing. I will make it my goal to shine like a spotlight on the invisible God.
