Pastor, please be discerning and bless me!
“He did not recognize him, because his hands were hairy like his brother Esau's hands; so he blessed him.” (Genesis 27:23)
How many of the members of the congregation will cry out in their hearts, ‘Pastor, please be discerning and bless me!”? And how many of the pastors really hear their cry?
There is not a single person who dislikes God's blessings, whether it is church member or a pastor. But the problem is that we all like to receive every physical blessing because we don’t fully enjoy all the spiritual blessings in Christ (Eph. 1:3). As a result, we are no longer the spiritual men, but increasingly the man without the Spirit, losing our spiritual discernment (1 Cor. 2:14). Now we have lost our spiritual discernment to such an extent that we cannot accept the things of the Spirit of God (v. 14). Therefore, we no longer seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Mt. 6:33). The reason is because we don’t believe in God's promise, “and all these things will be added to you” (v. 33). Rather, we are now seeking “all these things” backwards first. Now we are concerned about “What will we eat?,” “What shall we drink?,” and “What will we wear for clothing” (v. 31). The Gentile eagerly seek all these things (v. 32), but now we are seeking all these things. That's how much we lost our discernment. As a result, we are being judged by the people of this world (cf. 1 Corinthians 2:15).
According to Genesis 27, when Isaac was old and his eyes were too dim to see (v. 1), he wanted to bless his eldest son Esau as much as he wanted before he died (v. 4). But he could not distinguish Esau from his brother Jacob. So in the end, Isaac blessed Jacob (v. 23) who was a deceiver in his sight (v. 12). Of course, as we know, God loved Jacob and hated Esau (Mal. 1:2-3; Rom. 9:13). So God blessed Jacob, who was chosen in the sovereignty (Cf.: Rom. 9:11ff.), through Isaac. But that doesn’t justify Jacob deceiving his father Isaac [Note: Phil. 1:17 – The apostle Paul rejoiced and rejoiced because it was Christ that was preached. But he never tolerated selfish ambition or vain conceit in preaching the gospel (2:3)]. If Isaac had been young and had good eyesight, would Jacob have tried to deceive his father Isaac?
Now many of us, the pastors, are degenerated. Our spiritual eyes are darkened. So we bless our church members without discernment. Although our church members are obviously living deceitfully like Jacob and living in violation of God's commandments, the pastors are blessing them instead of rebuking them in love (Rev. 3:19; Note: Prov. 27:5). Now, we are asking God for material blessing that the church members whose spiritual eyes have been darkened are asking because our spiritual eyes also have been darkened. Although our church members aren’t seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, we the pastors are praying for blessings for them so that all these things can be added to them. Isn’t this the time for all of us to repent instead of blessing our church members? Now we pastors with darkened spiritual eyes are leading the church members whose spiritual eyes are also darkened. As Jesus said, the blind are leading the blind now (Mt. 15:14). As a result, both fell into a pit (v. 14). Even though we the pastors and the church members who are spiritually blinded have fallen into the pit, we cannot even discern it. To this extent, we have lost our spiritual discernment now.
How long will we ask God for material blessings? How long will we long for our pastor to pray for material blessings? Now, shouldn't we long for the message of rebuke in love rather than the prayer of blessing from the pastor? Now, shouldn't we receive God's word of rebuke through the pastor and repent in the piercing of our hearts? Why don't we ask our pastors, ‘Pastor, please be discerning and bless me!’ Why don't we say to our pastors with love, ‘Pastor, please be discerning and bless me’ and say, ‘Pastor, rebuke me in love’?