You know the movie Hitch, right? Will Smith runs a service where he helps men become winners with the ladies rather than losers. He gives simple cues to the guys on how they can get past themselves to be what the girl would want. And often times it’s not even really changing the guys themselves – because we know, that despite what some would like to believe, guys don’t change. He’s just making the connections more natural and easy, helping the guys to get a sense of victory where they’ve often felt defeat. I must say, I love this movie!
The other day, as I was randomly thinking about Hitch, it occurred to me that in some ways this is what pastors do in ministry.
Now, bear with me here. This is what we like to call a metaphor. And every metaphor breaks down at some point. I’m not trying to say that Hitch is JUST like pastoral ministry. But just follow me here for a minute.
See, we all have relationship issues with God. And we really sometimes just need someone to give us some pointers. We need someone who can help us to get past ourselves and learn what it means to love the One we’re trying to love. Sometimes it helps to have someone with a bit more experience and knowhow to give some advice along the way.
That’s what it’s sometimes like. As a youth pastor, I’m giving relationship advice to teens on how they can develop the most important relationship of their lives – the one with the God who created them.
And here’s the part where the metaphor really seemed to be true. Hitch, as it was discovered, had his own issues. People questioned whether he was real because of those issues. And I think that’s the struggle of the pastor. He or she struggles with knowing that their job is to help others to have a healthy relationship with God, and yet they sometimes struggle in their own relationship with Him.
We’re not perfect. We have our own issues with the relationship too. So it’s a matter of us giving advice while taking that same advice. I find that happens to me all the time. I may preach a message but that same message resonates in my heart for that week before and after because I’m needing to learn the same things I’m teaching.
None of us are absolutely perfect when it comes to relationships. And so it’s great that God both gives us grace to make up for that as well as gives us people in our lives who can give us some pointers along the way.