You've Got to Get to Know a Person - 02
And trust takes time!
I knew a man named Jacob. He was known to leave churches every three years or so. He was a slow-motion pinball bouncing here and there. And he’d drag his family along with him. Why?
Jacob wanted to be a teacher in the church. His heart beat for it. And he felt that God had gifted him as one. The problem was, not too many agreed with his assessment.
It wasn’t for lack of trying to teach. He would strike up “spiritual” conversations in a moment’s notice. It didn’t matter what the current topic of conversation had been, he would turn it. He wanted “meaningful” conversation. He appeared uninterested in anything less intimate.
And Jacob often entered into a conversation with something on his mind. I can’t say for sure, but it may have been the same talking point he used on six or seven others that same day. It was like an agenda. I’m sure he felt that God had given him the agenda. So he only put up with whatever you wanted to talk about, and always tried to steer you back to his original topics.1
His approach made people uncomfortable but it wasn’t because they were convicted of wrongdoing or didn’t like talking about spiritual things. It was more that they were reluctant to trust him, for he didn’t really seem to care for them. Jacob wanted to talk and have people listen.
The result? People would gravitate AWAY from him. They would avoid getting caught in a corner with him at gatherings. And no church gave him the teaching platform and authority he wished for.
He was not trustable. Jacob had many acquaintances but few friends, because he never really got to know people. His wife and children did. They invested in people and established friendships. However, not too many in the church felt like they could call him a friend, let alone place their confidence in him as a leader. How can such a person ever become an elder in God’s church?
So he would move on, pull his family out, and start the process all over again. He wanted a platform to teach, yet he never established a track record in any church. In the time I knew him, he had joined four different ones - and all in the same community (within sixteen miles of each other).
Furthermore, the man was biblically challenged because of his theological views regarding charismata, future things, and the proper use of the Law of God.