Maybe it’s how the past week has gone; perhaps it’s just something on my mind – whatever it is, it is rife with discontent on what I see pastors struggling with and how I see them approaching life. I know this message is not for all pastors out there, but there are several who can stand to read this.

First off, let me just say this: Confronting the elephant in the pew is easier than you think. It may be soul torturing if you are struggling with it yourself, but it is something you need to do – for your own personal health and for the health of the church.

With this in mind, the Word: “As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received,” Ephesians 4:1.

Some of us are just plain not living up to the calling we have received. I know some of you may be hearing from me that I am being too rigid or am too conservative; that I am not voicing this with a heart. Please hear this: It is because I have a heart that I am saying these things – we pastors need to own up to what we have been called to be. Not flimsy on the tough stuff in life. Not soft on tackling our own garbage. Not shy from the things that make others blush.

Maybe this is a gripe. Perhaps it’s a call to action. Either way you look at it, this is the Word of God spoken into the hearts of man: “Live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”