Not a Professional Holy Man

Not a Professional Holy Man · 13 May 2017

Praying Hands by Albrecht Dürer
This work is in the public domain.

There are some days I wish I could be a professional holy man. Not many mind you, just every once in a while.

The head pastor at our church likes to say he is a professional holy man. Which means that he is educated about the Bible more than most and that he gets paid to work on Sundays (or whichever day happens to be the Sabbath). And all the other days too. Oh sure, he gets scheduled days off, but there are things that happen which need a preacher’s presence. After all, I cannot see any preacher telling anybody truly in need that he cannot visit because it is his day off.

So besides having to work on the Sabbath and essentially being on call all the time oh and having your life and the life of your family under a microscope all the time, being a professional holy man has some appeal. Not very often, but still…

The part that appeals to me is not having to worry about what other people think when you talk about Jesus. Of course, that should not matter much to any Christ follower, but it often does. Sometimes we get caught up in our lives and forget about the relationship that matters most. Or we think people might think us Jesus freaks if we talk too much about Him. But if we really thought about it, people talk about what they most value. Whether that be the new cars they bought or their families or whatever. We talk about what we are most passionate about.

Which is why I sometimes wish I was a professional holy man. For as I get closer to Jesus, I want to talk about Him more. And the more I want to talk about Him, the more I think I ought to do it all the time.

The thing is, you and I do not need to be professional holy people to do that. We can keep Jesus in our hearts and let the words and works flow out. The old song says, “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Which is true. They will. But with people hedging their bets trying to work their way into a heaven they claim they do not even believe in, they still want to know what is different about Christians. They still want to know what it is that Jesus followers have that they do not. Which is why the Bible says to be prepared to give an answer for the joy that is within you. And that answer is: because of our relationship with Jesus.

Of course, people look at Christians and wonder why there is such a range of how they behave. Why would anybody want to be a Christian when it appears they just do what everybody else does, except they wear a cross around their necks or claim to be Jesus followers? There is a Biblical answer to be sure, but the answer I like to give is simply that everybody is a hypocrite, which just means that we do not always do what we say we are going to do. In other words, Christians are not perfect, just forgiven. Which is really the Biblical answer that everybody is a sinner. No one is good. No not even one. Until we accept the body and blood of Christ. Until we start that relationship with Him.

Personally, I like to speak truth into people’s lives. And maybe I am giving away one of my secrets, but I like to tell people what God says. I like to compare myself to Shakespeare in that I give people bits and pieces of God’s word, but I do not tell them where it comes from. I quote scripture like Abraham Lincoln, and then people think I am wise or even attribute the words to me. Or at least they might if I was quotable. (How about that, I compared myself to Shakespeare and Lincoln in a single paragraph. How’s that for an ego.)

Anyway, I have no aspirations to become a professional holy man. I like what I am doing. And God has not told me to do anything else yet. I may just be a hack with a website and a teacher and coach, but first and foremost, I am a Jesus follower. And we probably need more Jesus followers who are not professional holy people than who are. (Who would sit in the seats if it was the other way around?) Besides, that job is too hard. Which is why, even though I think about it every so often, I do not really want to be a professional holy man.

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