Spend anytime with a Pastor, listening to what a ‘normal’ week looks like in their lives and you’ll soon learn that being a Pastor isn’t easy. I’m not meaning to set up those in ministry against those who aren’t, I don’t think that’s right. However, it is important to notice the draining nature of full-time ministry on a Pastor and his family. Here’s the voice of someone who knows what that’s like.
In his book Pastor, Jesus is enough Jeremy Writebol helps Pastors to see the beauty of Jesus and the gospel through the lens of the letters to the churches in Revelation. One of the things that I like about this book is that Jeremy is real, he doesn’t make things always look rosey or easy. He opens up about struggles that he has had, things that haven’t always gone well and some of the emotions (good and hard) that go through most Pastors’ minds on a Sunday.
In this book each reader, whether you’re a Pastor or not, will find encouragement as your driven to God’s Word, you will find challenges as the bible confronts many pastoral and cultural idols that have become the norm in many churches today and it will help you remember the importance of finding your satisfaction in Jesus.
Over nine chapter Jeremy draws alongside Pastors and goes on a journey in the book of Revelation to grow, to learn, to mourn and to laugh together. Jeremy is a brother in the tenches of church ministry and he invites you, the reader, into his life and world to walk along with him as you both seek to learn more about and become more like Jesus.
Here are the chapter headings that Jeremy walks through;
- Pastor, you belong to Jesus
- Pastor love Jesus the most
- Pastors suffer
- Pastors teach and tell the truth
- Pastors become like Jesus
- Pastors abide in Jesus
- Pastors find their value in Jesus
- Pastors repent
- Pastor, Jesus is enough
I don’t want to go into too much detail in this recommendation because I don’t want to take away from he book and the impact it can have on you as you pick it up. I will just say that I do recommend that you pick it up if you’re a Pastor. This would also be a good book to gift your Pastor as you try to come alongside him and his family and care for them too. So, grab a copy or two, one for you and one for your Pastor.
Just in case you’re in doubt, I received a digital copy of this book for the purposes of this review, but I think it’s so helpful that I’m going to buy a physical copy to come back to, to underline and scribble in and to have as a reminder to look to Jesus, and to find hope if I’m every weary, burned out or broken.
Let me end with some of Jeremy’s words towards the end of his book…
“Fixing our eyes on the cross as pastors repudiates our attempts to be the church’s Savior and Messiah. We are the friend of the bridegroom pointing the bride to her husband. We see Jesus’ suf- fering and death on our behalf as our only hope of redemption, and we cease promoting alternative means of salvation by reli- gious imitations. We stop attempting to get the church to love us and deem us worthy because of our sacrifice, and show them the real Savior who bled and died for his bride.
Fixing our eyes on his redemptive suffering renews our vision that he actually saves, and he saves us. We are reminded that it was his blood that was shed for our sins, his blood that was poured out for our failures as pastors. He died to ransom us for God, putting to death our attempts to earn our own status or position before God by our great pastoring. He has made us “a kingdom and priests to our God” and we “shall reign on the earth” by virtue of his shed blood, not our own. We can die to our own greatness, our own sufficiency, our own pride. Our eyes are fixed on Christ, who is enough to rescue us from our greatest failures, our worst sermons, our poor counseling, our weak prayers, and our deepest sorrows. Christ died for us! He is enough for us.”
*** I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for honest review. This does not change the way I rate the book. My views are my own. ***
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