I was teaching our Lead Steps class this Saturday. Lead Steps is the class we ask our group leaders and team leaders to attend before they lead. It’s a six part class where we teach our five values (Bible, Mission, Spiritual Family, Generosity, and Development) and an additional session on leading a small group.
Teaching session one is always my favorite. One of the statements I say is that if you want the people you lead to love the Bible, you have to love the Bible yourself. Passion is contagious. As pastors we can be tempted to treat the Bible as a chore, as a todo we have to check off. Other times we may read just to teach, making our only study time being for the messages we preach. We are called to higher things than that.
During COVID I know people who have lost their taste and smell and it hasn’t returned even after months. I can only imagine how that removes the joy that can come from eating some foods. You would have to practice such discipline in that situation to make sure you are intaking the nutrients you need. Similarly, if you’ve lost your taste for it I encourage you to pray God to restore you. We need to take joy in His Word!
We can’t expect people to out passion us. God set the law of reproduction in Genesis that everything reproduces after its own kind. We can’t produce passionate followers of Jesus by being shepherds who do the bare minimum. Ask God to give you a fresh joy for His Word today.