How to Treat a Pastor, according to Hebrews
Most of us have a pastor of some sort; someone who leads our local church. The Bible has many instructions for how we are supposed to treat them. In this devotional, we’ll be looking at what Hebrews has to say.
Hebrews 13:17 says that we are to obey them, and submit to them. It says that they watch our souls, meaning that they look out for our spiritual well-being. We are to listen to them, and their counsel in spiritual matters. It does say elsewhere in the Bible if what they teach is contrary to the Bible, we are not to obey, so we are not supposed to obey them blindly.
The verse goes on to say that they have to give an account to God about how the people under them turned out. They are partly responsible for how we turn out. According to the verse, we should obey them so that they may give a joyful account, and not an account given in grief. Being a pastor is a very stressful job, we shouldn’t be making it harder for them.
Hebrews 13:18 essentially finishes verse 17. We are told to pray for them. A pastor’s position places a lot of responsibilities on his shoulders, and prayer helps them. What I find interesting about this verse is the change in voice. 17 says to obey them in authority, while 18 says to pray for US. Paul, the writer of Hebrews, was asking for prayer directly for himself. He did not ask for obedience, though it was implied, rather he asked directly for prayer. I think that that makes it clear how important it is to pray for our pastors.
So in closing, obey those in spiritual authority over us (and those in normal authority over us), and pray for them all.
