Conrad Mbewe on Pastoral Purity

Today is Pastors day at Resolve and as usual we have a featured article extract. Today's is by Conrad Mbewe.

The Need to Guard the Heart
The first responsibility in this single-eyed pursuit of godliness is the guarding of the heart. The wise man spoke well when he said, "Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life" (Proverbs 4:23). The minister's heart is the heart of his ministry. Be sure of this: Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. Keeping the eye and heart and spirit and conscience pure is the future of a man's ministry. So, beware of sins of the heart--pride, envy, jealousy, lust, greed, anger, and sloth. No wonder that history has dubbed them "the seven deadly sins"! Long before a person makes visible shipwreck of his life and ministry, his heart has been allowed to be a citadel of sin. I say again, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.

This is the greatest battle you will ever wage in your life and ministry. We may all keep away from physical adultery and actual theft. But how many people have reduced their ministries into ego-centric showrooms that have absolutely nothing to do with the glory of God? How many men's once robust ministries have shriveled because they were envious of other men's ministries? How many good men have been driven by jealousy into riding a hobbyhorse of what the Chinese call "killing a fly on the forehead of a friend using a hatchet"? What about that wandering eye that fails to see a member of the opposite sex without thinking of the bedroom? How many men are presently laboring outside God's will, all because of seeking a more lucrative ministry? The list is endless. Brethren, these are the sins that kill the spirituality and power of our ministries long before any overt sins are visible to our people. There is no doubt that to keep your ministry alive and kicking year after year, you must train yourself to be godly.

Attaining and Maintaining Devotion
An important question needs to be asked. How does one pursue this single-eyed devotion? Remember that true devotion never grows out of mere resolve. There must be action as well. Now, whereas the public means of grace (such as church services) will do a lot for others, those of us who are pastors have to rely a lot more on the private means of grace. This is because we are so often pre-occupied with the details of our church services that we lose out on the benefit of the injunction: "Be still and know that I am God." Therefore, for us the single-hearted devotion will have to be largely the fruit of a soul that retires for Bible reading, prayer, meditation, and other private means of grace. We often rationalize our absence from these soul-cleansing exercises by using duty as an excuse. And, granted, sometimes it will be inevitably so. But when this begins to go on week after week, then just know that you are on the decline and are killing the inner life of your ministry. God never intended it to be so. If your place in the closet has been vacant for some time, then get back as soon as you can to your devotional exercises! It is in the place of secret prayer that the truths of the man of God come clothed in the fiber of his being. It is there that the matters of grace are kept fresh. You abandon the secret place to your own undoing.

Read the entire article at:
www.founders.org/FJ47/article1.html