Reason #4 - Insecurity
I remember having lunch with a pastor one time from a church in a pretty large city. The lunch was going pretty well until the name of the pastor who’s church was larger came up. The pastor with whom I was having lunch with, as soon as he heard the pastor’s name, immediately began to tell me of all the negative, ungodly things that he had heard about the church. The lunch took a nosedive immediately and it was so obvious that the other pastor was dealing with insecurity.
Now let’s be honest, if you’re a pastor, you have dealt with insecurity. I know I have. I have to confess that many times when I hear of God working and moving at another location I have been so guilty in the past of trying to find what was wrong with the movement rather than what was right about it.
(BTW…we are so good at masking insecurity as “concern” or “prayer requests” or “a desire for what is best for another person.” I’ve used all three in the past—and every time it was a lie. I was trying to hide the fact that it bothered me to see another person or ministry experience success!)
If you are the person that is always trying to discover what is wrong with something then you are insecure. I’ve had people tell me, “I’m just being the devil’s advocate,” when it is obvious from the scriptures that you are not supposed to be working for him. He doesn’t need an advocate. He does a very good job all by himself.
Insecurity in a leader must be handled or it will handle the leader.
We need more men who will celebrate what Jesus is doing in other places rather than allowing insecurity to crawl all over them.