He's Not Superhuman: A story from the life of the "Prince of Preachers"

Since we're still in October, which someone has dubbed "Pastor Appreciation Month", I thought this blog on an incident in the life of Chas. Spurgeon, arguably the greatest preacher of the 19th (or maybe any) century.

I dare say that 99% of a pastor's church never knows or even thinks of the hurts he bears. Most of us have learned to swallow them and bear them deep within our souls. But as Spurgeon's story shows, that's not healthy. Eventually there needs to be healing.

There are some great points in this blog that as I read I said, "Amen!"

• "Members leave easily when hurt. Why can’t we?"
• "Jesus intends to teach us how to talk about such things to him and to entrust these pains to him. Moving too quickly gives temporal relief but leaves us still unskilled in this thing with which Jesus wants to empower us."
• "Jesus interprets our life and calling, not our critics."
• "Keeping us put, Jesus disciples us in fellowship with him. He teaches us how to sometimes live with uncorrected and incorrect reports about us so that we can stay with the gospel regardless. Our identity is hid in him."
• "Our reputations as someone who is more than human need to crash."
• "Those ready to learn humanity and dependence will not leave you."

Here's the link to the blog. Take time to read it carefully, whether you're a pastor or a member of a church. Your pastor may never tell you, but he can see himself in this story as though it was a mirror.