Dear Pastor Whoever

Dear Pastor Whoever….

You and I have something in common that’s very difficult to admit: we both have a resistance to Jesus Christ. Yes, we love the Lord and endeavour to please Him. And we are grateful for the holy sacrifice, the offering of Himself at Calvary on our behalf. And yet….

And yet there is a strong resistance to bow to His lordship and His sanctifying process. If it wasn’t for this impedance we would be an entirely different christian. We would have already accumulated more “treasures in heaven” – not only more, but much more. Some of those “treasures” would be people; we would have been used by our Commander-in-Chief to draw multitudes into His Kingdom. We would be more like the NT heroes we envy, with “signs and wonders” following us as they did them.

I would have been converted to Christ years earlier if not for this*!*!*!*! resistance. The same is true, I suppose, of you and everyone. Thankfully there was a time when our longing for Jesus superseded our resistance and we (finally!) bowed to His lordship and received His awesome salvation. We like to think this resistance problem was dealt with at that holy encounter. But not so, not fully. Our ego suffered a setback, but it wasn’t dead. We still resolutely decline to die to self, to surrender self-rule, to be guided by the Holy Spirit.

My resistance to full surrender to Christ has a negative effect on others but not nearly as much as yours, simply because you are more influential. Your sunday audience considers you their pastor,their shepherd. You could set them free. By confessing your resistance to Christ Jesus you might make them realize their own. Might bring them to repentance. Might make them more like the NT heroes they envy.

Thanks for listening.
Larry Jones