Let your light so shine before men..

At church on Sunday we had a missionary from Poland come and speak to us. He told a story of a pastor friend of his who had been serving at the same church for 15 years. After all that time of serving at the church, his congregation remained indifferent and unresponsive. He felt that the Lord was calling him to leave and begin work at another church, but before he left he wanted to say goodbye to the chief of police, the fire chief, and the mayor. Although they all remained unbelievers, he had been working on building relationships with them during the time that he lived in that town. Upon hearing that he was leaving, each one, completely separate of the others, had the same response: "I'm sorry to see you go, but I'm not surprised. That church has never treated it's pastors well." Wow. That brought two things to my mind. Number one, how are we supposed to treat those who labor to bring us the Word of God? We should take care of them, encourage them, and be ready to help in the ministry in any and every way that we possibly can. Number two, was this a church a shining light for Christ to the dark world around them? Obviously not. Even unbelievers knew that the people of the church were doing something wrong and it in turn drove them away from God. How heartbreaking. May we strive to live in accordance to the commands of God and in doing so, shine so brightly for Him that we are a testimony and witness to the lost people around us!