Required reading
Lectures to my students by Charles Spurgeon (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Chapter 9 (The blind eye and the deaf ear).
My summary
Today Spurgeon teaches us that the preacher must have a blind eye and deaf ear in certain situations.
We are told to be deaf and blind to:
(i) the longstanding differences which may survive in the church;
(ii) finance in the matter of your own salary;
(iii) the gossips of the place;
(iv) all things from which you might harshly draw an unkind inference;
(v) what was not meant for you;
(vi) opinions and remarks about yourself;
(vii) other churches and their pastors.
What grabbed me
Very important wisdom from Spurgeon today.
Much heartache could be avoided if we were deaf and blind more often.
For example: 'Some are childishly anxious to know their friend’s opinion of them, and if it contain the smallest element of dissent or censure, they regard him as an enemy forthwith. Surely we are not popes, and do not wish our hearers to regard us as infallible. We have known men become quite enraged at a perfectly fair and reasonable remark, and regard an honest friend as an opponent who delighted to find fault; this misrepresentation on the one side has soon produced heat on the other, and strife has ensued. How much better is gentle forbearance! You must be able to bear criticism, or you are not fit to be at the head of a congregation; and you must let the critic go without reckoning him among your deadly foes, or you will prove yourself a mere weakling.'
He's right. If you can't turn a deaf ear to criticism you shouldn't be a pastor.
Next week's reading
Read Chapter 10 (On conversion as our aim).
Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.
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