LEARNING TO LEAN

Twenty five years ago while visiting Northern Ireland I was introduced to a song by popular gospel singer Willie McRae. It was called “Learning to Lean” and its chorus went like this:

Learning to lean, learning to lean,

learning to lean on Jesus.

Finding more power than I ever knew,

learning to lean on Jesus.

The words of this chorus have often come to mind in recent days. Returning to pastoral ministry has emphasised the need to “lean on Jesus” for everything.

Of course, every Christian, not just pastors, needs to lean on the Lord – that’s the essence of the Christian life as Paul summarized it in passages such as Galatians 2:20 and Philippians 1:21. But there are nevertheless situations and circumstances in pastoral ministry that bring that need home to you in stark ways.

Preparing to preach and teach the Bible is one of these. Getting enough to say about a passage of the Bible isn’t, in itself, such a difficulty today. With all the commentaries and electronic resources that abound you can generally “cut and paste” enough material to keep you talking for half an hour or more. But there is much more to ministering the Word than just having something to say about it. You need to hear what God is saying through the passage, and discern how he wants that to be brought home to the hearts of the people you are serving. And that takes a discernment and spiritual sensitivity that only God the Holy Spirit can give. That’s why Bible preachers and teachers have to be good pray-ers before they are good talkers. They have to lean on Jesus before they can speak for him.

There are other pastoral situations that call for just as much grace and help from the Lord. Take pastoral visiting for example – especially where those visits are to the sick and suffering. It’s very easy to go into a pain-filled bedroom or hospital ward and be a “Job’s comforter” – offer trite and ultimately hurtful words through insensitivity. Good visitors need to be good listeners, compassionate empathisers, and wise counsellors. These qualities are not purely human but gifts of the Holy Spirit that come from Christ.

One could go on and talk about sharing the gospel with people from the community, helping eager (and not so eager) Christians grow in their faith, planning worship services, resolving conflicts and so on – all examples of the challenges that pastors face. In each case a pastor is confronted with the same reality – he has to do things he cannot achieve in his own strength. It doesn’t matter how well educated or trained he may be, spiritual ministry requires spiritual influences that only flow from the fullness of life we have in Jesus Christ (John 15:5).

That’s why we have to learn to lean on him every day and all through the day. It’s a matter of looking beyond ourselves and resting on his unseen but real presence. It involves trusting reliance upon him to work in and through us by His Spirit according to his Word in every circumstance of life. Nothing is too small or insignificant to be taken to him. It’s something we have to “learn” and keep on learning to do. When it happens we discover more of what Paul meant when he said “I no longer live; it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).