Jethro, the first religious consultant, tells Moses how to reorganize his staff. No longer is he to do everything poorly but delegate to trusted followers. Exodus 19 Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you.
Point 1. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him.
Point 2. Verse 20 Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave.
Point 3. Verse 21 But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens.
Point 4. Verse 22 Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you.
Point 5 Verse 23 If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”
24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. 25 He chose capable men from all Israel and made them leaders of the people, officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. 26 They served as judges for the people at all times. The difficult cases they brought to Moses, but the simple ones they decided themselves.
The Old Testament of Moses listening to his father in law is one many of us need to learn. So many Christian leaders are compulsively attempting to do everything that they are burned out. Let me be clear:
Burn Out is not caused by too much work but too much responsibility. Moses was trying to take all the responsibility for the people.
Jethro rightly said, "You will burn yourself and your people out." Yes, working too hard wears the people out. It also promotes sinful behavior among the flock. If people are not busy working they will get busy sinning.
Pastors are far too important to do all the busy work and care for all the minute problems of the people. It will destroy everybody. Is this a model we need to adopt today?
Want to be like Jethro and Moses?
Read Hope and Change for Humpty Dumpty here to learn how
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