I offer the following as an encouragement to a dear brother pastor I had the privilege to visit with today. A pastor like many, whose love for those he serves weighs heavy on him. -pmwl
"Some things, even though openly
known, ought to be tolerated for a time. That is, when circumstances afford no
suitable opportunity for openly correcting them. For sores by being cut at the
wrong time are the worse enflamed; and, if medical treatments suit not the
time, it is clear that they lose their medicinal function. But, while a fitting
time for the correction of those in one’s charge is being sought, the patience
of the church leader is exercised under the very weight of their offenses.
Therefore, it is well said by the
psalmist, “Sinners have built upon my back” (Psalm 129:3 LXX). For on the back we
support burdens; and therefore he complains that sinners had built upon his
back, as if to say plainly; those whom I am unable to correct I carry as a
burden laid upon me. (Gregory the Great, c. 540-604).
PRAYER:
God our Father, Lord Jesus Christ,
send Your grace and peace. Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
comfort us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort others who are in
trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from You. Amen. (2
Corinthians 1:2-4)"
from A Daily Prayer Catechism THE LORD WILL ANSWER CPH 2004 p,. 135
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