More

 Serving God shouldn’t be akin to a full contact sport, and being in ministry should not have the intrigue, corruption, or betrayal of politics. Granted, confronting the devil can get you some scars and bruises, but there’s a difference between fighting the devil and fighting your own kind.

Being a pastor, you shouldn’t have to wake up every morning wondering who’s about to stab you in the back or who’s planning on splitting the church and taking half the congregation. Sometimes you guess right, sometimes you’re blindsided, and the closer you are to the individual, the greater the pain and disillusionment.

We could keep discussing this, but suffice it to say some things shouldn’t be but are, so we must contend with the reality rather than the ideal. Even though the attempt is always made to explain away the viciousness and vindictiveness of a church split, or a ministry torn apart by opposing parties, the underlying reason is always that someone wanted to be elevated to a station they were never called to by God.

Although they’d never come out and say it, they sow division because they want to be the top dog; they want the spot and not just a spot. They want to be the leader and not a follower, and when all the fancy self-serving words are peeled away, wanting something you have no claim to is at the root of it all.

When you want to take from another something you had no hand in building, it wasn’t God telling you to do it, no matter how much you insist upon it. God would have had you build it yourself if it was meant for you to guide, but if another put in the effort to start an outreach, a ministry, or a church, and they’re being diligent in their calling, He won’t send you to tell them to move along. If they are needed elsewhere, God will tell them.

This is why I don’t pay much attention to individuals who appear out of nowhere and insist the Lord spoke to them that I should hand over the reins of the ministry. Funny how the Lord did not confirm it with me, and it’s never a third party I’m supposed to hand everything over to. It’s always directly to them. Convenient, to be sure.

A squatter will never care for a home the way the homeowner does. A squatter has no sweat equity, nothing invested, and no skin in the game as far as they are personally concerned. If there’s anything to take, they’ll take it, including busting through the walls to get at the brass pipes so they can sell them for scrap. As soon as they’re done picking one place clean, they move on to the next, always searching for that next opportunity they can exploit.

As Solomon once mused, there is nothing new under the sun, and man’s constant desire for more is one of those defects that has existed since time immemorial.

Korah had a pretty sweet gig going. He was a Levite, set apart to do the work of the Tabernacle of the Lord and stand before the congregation and serve them. It wasn’t anything to scoff at, and the tribe of Levi was well respected among the people.

Korah, however, wanted more, and he looked upon the calling of Moses with jealousy and covetousness. Since he couldn’t make a go of it alone, he incited others, some two hundred and fifty men in all, and came to Moses and Aaron.

Numbers 16:1-3, “Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men; and they rose up before Moses with some of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, representatives of the congregation, men of renown. They gathered together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You take too much upon yourselves, for all the congregation is holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?”

When you parse out the words spoken by Korah and his minions, you see the blueprint for attacking someone in authority while attempting to get the people on your side. First, he seemed magnanimous, worried about Moses and Aaron, fearful that they were taking too much upon themselves, but then pivoted to bringing false praise on the people.

That a good chunk of them would later worship a golden calf is a testament to my claim, but at the moment, it didn’t matter whether or not he was lying as long as the people felt good about themselves and their achievements. As long as you are getting praised, does it matter if the praise is honest, true, and verifiable? If you’re honest, it does, but usually, flattery works, and those doing the flattering rise a rung or two in your esteem.

You know it’s not true, the guy blowing smoke knows it’s not true, but it makes you look good, it strokes your ego, and it impresses your neighbors. You say nothing because it would endanger your newfound station, so you’re happy to turn a blind eye.

A little girl tried the same play on Paul, but it didn’t work quite so well as Korah’s rhetoric worked on the people of Israel. His intentions were not sincere; he wasn’t interested in sparing Moses and Aaron’s hardship; he wanted their positions, and for that to occur, they had to be undermined and removed.

Moses knew he had been called of God; there was no shadow of doubt in him regarding this, so he didn’t shy away, he didn’t cower or retreat, but pushed back on Korah’s claims, as he ought. That’s the beauty of being where God told you to be and doing what God told you to do. When the vultures come, you won’t hesitate to stand your ground.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.