KneEmail - a devotional by Mike Benson associated with Forthright Magazine
Dangerous 2
I AM CONTINUALLY overwhelmed by the responsibility and liability that posses the preacher of God's Word...
We all look with indignation at the lawyer or judge who, for the motive of personal wealth, distorts the truth in attacking the reputation and personal possessions of people -- while reducing them to poverty. We respond with similar indignation to the quack doctor who, by incompetence, hazards the health and life of someone for the purpose of financial gain. Such people deserve to be considered criminals; the pain and loss of their victims should rightly be laid to their account....
But what about me as the purveyor of God's truth, the physician of the soul? Shall I not be held responsible to God for any perversion of truth, however witless, and for my negligence and lack of skill? What earthly regulatory association validates me? Do not I, who preach God's Word, face a higher court than the legal bar or any medical tribunal?
THOUGHT: No profession has high a liability potential as that of the preacher of God's Word. God will judge every preacher on the truthfulness and accuracy of his preaching. Any failure as a spokesman for God brings me not only shame (2 Tim. 2:15) but judgment... There will be a day of reckoning for the preacher. Only a certain kind of man, then, has the right to be considered a lawyer, a judge, or a physician. The standard is significantly higher for the preacher. (John MacArthur, Jr.)
KneEmail: "Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we shall incur a stricter judgment" (Jas. 3:1).