Waiting for a response from the sheep.

I really used to wonder, why is Pastor Martin giving us all of the details of the whys that he does each thing that he does?
We had an entire Sunday School class about how God grants a hearing from others. How he personally chooses to give counsel to others. It was a blessing, but I said why is he telling us this.
We were too young to know about the gradations of exposing ourselves to people. He was old enough to teach us and we could not know what a blessing this would be throughout our lives. Not exalting the man, mind you, but that God used his example and he had the privilege of seeing God use his example to mold another generations of people to glorify God as the church.
He said you cannot just give counsel to one another willy nilly (my translation not his). You must wait for a hearing from the person. People will let you know when they can hear this or that biblical counsel. He said when someone listens to what I say I give them more to listen to. It seems like a plain truth, but it was a beautiful instruction in the development of community.
The truth can be the light, but it can and does also become a battering ram, sometimes. We must be careful not to be those who stamp out the smoking flax. Level headed and balanced leadership that can come from multiple elders from different parts of the country and socioeconomic levels should be the biblical model, but in lieu of that we sometimes condescend to one strong preacher with a big voice and alot of gifts in teaching. Not wise, but convenient.
Pastor Martin gave us one word of counsel as a couple. This word has stood the test of time throughout the 26+ years. Keep the communication going in a positive direction. That is all he needed to say to my biblically zealous husband.
If he would have held his breath for my response, he would just be breathing now. I am the type of sheep that keeps my responses to myself. He taught me to give some response about what the instruction did to help me.
We have still, so far to go in the grace of God and I am grateful that the initial instructions were so directive.
We all had catapaulted into battering rams of the scriptures for a season, but it was not for the want of instruction. It is obviously a stage in church development, akin to the terrible twos where young converts to the Lord beat one another with the scriptures for sport and learn to love one another as a result. Thank you God for good Pastoring.