Still Studying

Yesterday was my Classical Ordination Examination.  It was the nicest grilling that I have ever received!  For 2 hours I was in front of colleagues and fellow pastors from the surrounding CRC churches.  There was not any "gotcha" questions or people that wanted to make a statement.  The pastors were more concerned with the person God made me than how much theology I knew.  Most of the questions were pretty easy for me to answer because I have had to answer them several times before.  I tried to remain calm throughout the questioning and I really do not remember whether I was scared or not.  I think that sometimes I am not smart enough to know that I should be scared!

I understand the necessity for the Classical examination.  There is great benefit from making sure that a person is a good fit for the ministry.  There have been too many people who have fooled people their entire lives about their character or their motives.  It is a sad day when they blacken the eye of Christianity as the person derails their ministry with a variety of moral failures.

There is great benefit to know whether they are a good fit for the CRC too.  How many pastors have come to CRC churches and then decided that they did not agree with the doctrines or theology?  They end up causing much trouble and heartache and often take the church they pastor out of the CRC.  (Some are joking about why a person would want to be a CRC pastor in the first place.  Maybe I will write about that someother time.)

It is a serious thing to serve our God, whether full-time ordained or part-time volunteer.  It should not be taken lightly and I do not.  The road has been long for me to be a lead, ordained pastor.  It has not been a comfortable process but it has been good.  There have been many things that I have missed in life due to this journey while I have gained many things too.  


Apostle Paul encouraged Timothy in his second letter: "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."  The old King James version says, "Study to show yourself..." Yesterday was not a grilling or a test or an exam. It was a showing of who God made me to be. It was a "check up" as to how have I been studying. I think we all need to have a check up once in a while to see how we are studying. I would think that we would all want to show that we are approved by God. Wouldn't we?