Have you ever been spending time with the Lord and you were really enjoying it? I mean, your Bible-intake or prayer time was so incredible that you just didn't want it to end...... and then someone interrupted you!
What was your reaction? I'm ashamed to say that my heart attitude has sometimes been very ugly. In the recesses of my mind, I was saying something like:
"Will you please get out, shut the door and leave me alone?! I'm spending time with Jesus!!"
Well, we have an instance in Scripture when Jesus was enjoying some time with His Father in a place where He suspected no one would bother Him ... and He was interrupted. Here it is:
Mark 1:35-39
"And rising very early in the morning, while it was still dark, he departed and went out to a desolate place, and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for him, and they found him and said to him, 'Everyone is looking for you.' And he said to them, 'Let us go on to the next towns, that I may preach there also, for that is why I came out.' And he went throughout all Galilee, preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons."
Did you get that? Jesus didn't get upset at Peter. He didn't tell him to leave because He was spending time with His Father. No. He engaged him in conversation and seemed to be perfectly fine with the interruption.
Pastor, you most certainly need to spend time alone with God feeding your own spirit. You also need to spend much time each week in your study (or a local library, etc.) preparing to proclaim God's Word. A call to preach is truly a call to study.
Yet, you will often be bombarded with interruptions. You may be praying. You may be reading God's Word. You may be getting ready for a committee meeting. And then there will be a knock on your door or the phone will ring. It will be a church member who needs to talk to you.
How you handle those interruptions will let your congregation know loud and clear whether or not you truly love them.
I have not always gotten this right. While I've never said anything that I shouldn't, I am ashamed to say that there have been times when my facial expressions and body language spoke loud and clear that I was being interrupted and wanted to get back to why I was doing.
In doing that, my non-verbal cues were saying something very profound to that person who just interrupted me - I was saying that I cared more for what I was doing than about them. And if they caught those cues, they would have been deeply hurt.
So, do you respond as patiently as Jesus did when Peter interrupted Him? You have to love the people God has called you to shepherd. If you truly love them, you'll see that virtually everything else is secondary. And while you will need to have time alone each week, you'll be OK with the periodic interruptions from the folks you love.
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