Recently a brother was speaking, and he would attempt to quote scriptures, saying, "I think the Bible says…" What I did not like was that he would say, after 'misquoting' the scripture "I don't know, I'm not a preacher". And I would open my eyes each time to say "What?! Brother you are a Christian, that’s all that matters"
Have you read Hebrews 11 before? It talks about people of faith; Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses' parents, Moses, Rahab, the children of Israel, Samuel, David and many more people. Have you noticed that Moses and Samuel were the only prophets mentioned there? Actually, the other prophets were just summed as prophets (vs 32). And there's Balak that I think was a prophet, but I am not a fan of, so I cannot put his name with a whole Moses and a whole Samuel (God forgive me). All the rest were just people; Abel was a farmer; Abraham, Isaac and Jacob were business men (I think these four were all in the sheep business); Rahab was a prostitute (that’s business too na); Jephtah was a military man, Moses' parents and the other children of Israel were just random people that we can care less what they did for a living (they kuku didn't come and steal my money). Did I mention that David was a shepherd and a king? I know you knew that already.
I hope you already know where I am going with my gist; most of the men of faith were not "pastors" (prophets). So why should being a pastor be the criterion to know God's word or live by faith? Romans 1:17 is one of 4 scriptures that tell us that "the just shall live by faith" and Romans 10:17 tells us that faith comes to us through the word of God. How will you conduct your business by faith if you don’t know God's word? Or how will you shine as light if you don’t know what the Bible says? John 11:10 says that when we don't have light in us (note that the light should be in us), we'll stumble in the dark. And Psalm 119:130 says that the entrance of God's word brings light.
As I looked and listened to the brother, I planned to go and share some "truth" with him afterwards, but I was too chicken to do so. So I have brought my thoughts here because many of us think like that. I also have my "I cannot kill myself, I am not the pastor" moments. But I believe that we can desire to be better, and we can get better. That is God's desire for us (Colossians 3:16; 2Peter 1:19; John 8:31-32; Ezekiel 36:26).
