Let us look at another dimension to
my last message. And I want to look at believers who are young in age.
What are we doing with those
uniquely gifted and talented in our churches? How do we treat a youngster with
a silver tongue or excellent instrument mastery?
Do we treat them like the
children they are or do we think their gift makes them instant adults?
You see, we are killing children
and youth when we start treating them as adults because their gift is
exceptional. We choose to forget that they are still children without spiritual
muscle to handle that exposure.
Yet we know that even in the
secular where there are no holiness standards, exposure to the limelight early is
destructive in the later years. Many child stars rarely make it in life as
their stardom becomes a block to a balanced life.
It is even more destructive in
the spiritual realm.
Why did God order the priests,
who were born into the priesthood and lived in priestly cities start
ministering at thirty? Though ministry was in their makeup and they were
introduced to it since birth, God knew they would not be able to handle the
pressures their ministry required.
What makes us think that a
teenager is qualified to be made a leader just because they are gifted?
The other day I heard on radio a
child (less than ten) being introduced as a bishop and given a lot of time to ‘minister’
on air. Incidentally many people thought that it was a good thing without
realizing that it could actually be an abomination as we are killing an
innocent child with adult responsibilities he has no capacity of handling.
Though Samuel started hearing
God’s voice as a child, we do not see him getting the limelight before he
became an adult. I am sure Eli protected him when he realized that probably the
reason his children blundered was because they were exposed to the ministry
responsibilities too early. Jeremiah was also called as a child yet we do not
‘see’ him before his adulthood.
And do you wonder why Jesus
started public ministry at thirty yet He had given a glimpse of what He was at
twelve?
Incidentally, I think this is the
reason the Bible forbids women from ministry leadership. And stop deceiving
yourself that the verse was directed at particular people and culture. Look at
these verses.
But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man,
but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed, then Eve. And Adam was not
deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. (1Tmothy
2: 12 – 14)
Do you realize that the verse
points at creation before the fall? It means that that was God’s order for His
creation.
Exposing women to ministry
leadership exposes them to things they were not given capacity to handle.
Let us be careful lest we kill
people God entrusts us to nurture.
Yet it is important to point at
the source of the whole matter.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of
the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all
things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world. Amen. (Matthew 28: 19, 20)
We are not making disciples. That
is the reason we are jumping at pre-cooked ministers, however poorly cooked
they are. We are scared of the sacrifice required to walk with the children God
gives us to raise that we are jumping at adopting a neighbor’s child without
realizing that he will be like ours that we have neglected.
I thank God that He connected me
with very old people to walk with me as concerns public ministry. They would
come for me when schools close so that we then would be involved with ministry,
from open air meetings to camps as one of their own. Then I would be part of
their discussions and history.
That is why I understand so much
about the East Africa revivals; from ’39 to ’49 to the 60s because I walked
with those old men who got saved then. That is why I felt as if I had arrived
home when I went to Kampala and heard a church sing ‘Tukutendereza’ perfectly in its native tongue.
Those old men were not scared of
walking with me, giving me adequate opportunities to minister as one of them.
Incidentally that is what I feel
God has called me to be doing in this my old age as I have explained elsewhere
on the blog.
If you are a young man God has
called to ministry and you feel the church is killing you with responsibility
because of your gift instead of nurturing you, pray that God connects you with
someone who feels strongly that it is dangerous for young people to be given
adult responsibility before their time. If you do not get someone, please
connect with me. I already have a team with the same vision.
Otherwise you are likely to
become a statistic of the fallen giants.
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