Pastor Shane

For years, I have signed off on e-mails and letters, “Pastor Shane”. 

Recently someone asked me why I do that.

I suspect they thought I was trying to gain some kind of credibility, like putting “Doctor” or “Reverent” in front of a name. 

However, my motivation is more Biblical. 

I noticed that when the Apostle Paul wrote his letters in the New Testament, he usually began them by clearly stating his position as an “Apostle of Jesus Christ”. 

For me, this accomplishes 2 things:

(a)  It reminds ME that God “called” me to be His representative and that comes with great responsibilities and obligations
(b) It reminds ME that everything I say must be in agreement with God’s Word

A couple years ago, I received an e-mail that was a political joke.  I thought it was in fairly good taste and it made me laugh.  So I passed it along without giving it much thought.   

Well….

I was surprised at the backlash I received from people offended by the political joke.  For the most part, my critics were in agreement that I, as a pastor, should not be offending people with differing political views than my own. 

My immediate response was, honestly, anger. 

This is America and we have a thing called “freedom of speech” here and last time I checked, that applied to pastors also. 

Then the good Lord gently began to feed me Bible verses and let them simmer in my heart for a couple weeks.

“When I am with those who are weak, I share their weakness, for I want to bring the weak to Christ. Yes, I try to find common ground with everyone, doing everything I can to save some.”  1 Corinthians 9:22

So we are Christ's ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, "Come back to God!" 2 Corinthians 5:20

I don't speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it.” John 12:49

Jesus told them, "My message is not my own; it comes from God who sent me.”

John 7:16

So our spiritual take-away from this is:

May the words of my mouth
and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing to you,
O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

Psalm 19:14