I feel completely inadequate to be a pastor. Maybe you can relate.

As pastors, many of us expend great effort covering our insecurities. I do. It may look like I have it together (or not.) Leading a church, I must possess talent, creativity, and spiritual energy, right? People sometimes compliment my leadership, my wisdom, and my preaching. They don't know I combat feeling that failure's just one bad decision away – constantly.

I've always battled insecurity, especially as a pastor. My first church business meeting…disaster. The chairman of the pastor search committee was also the chairman of the deacon body. He brought a recommendation to the church that was very unpopular, and frankly, I didn’t think much of it either. Before I knew it, I had sided with the people. I will never get the expression on his face out of my mind. He was crushed and hurt. He obviously felt betrayed. After several years, I now realize that his recommendation was right on target—it would have saved our church from a lot of troubled moments (ultimately we represented his resolution and it passed.) Unfortunately, it was after he had moved to another city.

Did I mention I feel completely inadequate?

Why do I feel this way? First, I don't feel I know enough. I wasn't a Christian until college. I had never read the Bible. In a college Bible class, I was asked to name Pilate's wife. I responded with, "I think it was CO-Pilate." He didn't laugh. Humiliating.

Didn't you learn anything in seminary, Tom? Nope. Didn’t go until well into my forties and graduated after I turned fifty.

I also don't feel I'm good enough. Respectable pastors are righteous. No bad words, bad thoughts, anger, jealousy – just faith, peace, and Christ-likeness. The pastors I admire have everything together. They're eloquent, proper, and spiritually mature.

Then there's me.

I'll ashamedly admit I've used a bad word. Not just any bad word – a really, really bad word. We came home to discover that our roof was leaking and water was saturating our brand new carpet. Frantically, I began grabbing waste baskets trying to catch the stream. Just as I thought I had it solved, I discovered two more leaks in our bedroom, in the closet, clothes and carpet were dripping this time.

Before I realized it, a word formed mentally – and rapidly escaped. My whole person participated. Pastors never say that word. How could God's love – and such filth – flow from the same mouth?

I've also made too many mistakes. The things I don't want to do, I do. Jealous, proud, doubtful, critical, gossipy, competitive – and there's more. And before I know it, I've forgotten that God's grace and power can forgive every mistake, correct every flaw.

I was discussing my feelings with a pastor friend of mine. Out of his sage wisdom he said, “Holland, there are 2 things you need to remember;

• First, don't believe everything your fans say about you. Some believe their pastor can do no wrong. Sure, they love you, but they can't help you improve. They may even tempt you in the wrong direction. Don't believe your positive press because you’re not that good.

• Second, don't believe your critics. The more you accomplish, the more you'll attract harsh criticism. Wisdom involves contemplating constructive criticism, but focusing exclusively on negative press eventually makes you defensive. Other people's opinions about you don't matter. It’s only what God thinks about you that really matters. Don't listen exclusively to your fans or to your critics.

And finally, he said, “The best piece of advice I can offer is this—spend time with Jesus. He’ll tell you what you need to hear.”

Great wisdom, don’t you think?

"Weltanschauung!"

Can you say weltanschauung? I knew you could! You gotta love that word. Of course when you hear it, you want to say "God bless you," but believe me, weltanschauung is a word with meanings that are nothing to sneeze at!

Those of you who are paying attention have probably figured out that weltanschauung is not an English word...and you would be correct. It's a German word that translates as 'worldview'.

Worldview - you know, the way you look at the world. The 'glasses' you wear that help you interpret all the stuff going on around you. Everyone has a weltanschauung, but the question is-

Do you have a good weltanschauung or a bad weltanschauung?

Why is this important? The quality of your worldview is critical, vital, and massively essential. Consider your worldview as the mental map that helps guide you through reality. If you have a lousy map, you will get lost, make wrong turns, or maybe even drive off a cliff with your life.

Where can I get a good weltanschauung???

Good news. You don't have to go to Germany. In fact, all you need to do is keep reading.

A good worldview comes from the God who made the world in the first place. In fact, He wrote it down for us. He already crafted the lenses for a worldview that gives you a clear vision for life that will take you down the best possible path. Let me give you the three foundational elements of a good worldview so that your view of the world ends up making your life good!

First: You are made in God's image

So God created people in his own image; God patterned them after himself; male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27)

This doesn't mean you're divine, but it does mean that you were divinely made. Your soul has been stamped with the image of God like a president on a coin. Knowing this is key to a good worldview because an awareness that every human bears the image of God impacts how we treat each other and ourselves. When you see others through the lenses of God's image, there is no room for racism, favoritism, judgmentalism, or any other evil ism you can think of. It also impacts how you view yourself and therefore the choices you make.

Second: The world is messed up because of sin
"No one is good--not even one. No one has real understanding; no one is seeking God. All have turned away from God; all have gone wrong. No one does good, not even one." (Romans 3:10-12)
“The price for sin is death.” (Romans 6:23)

A good worldview tells us that there is an absolute standard of right and wrong found in the Bible, and when we do or say or think the wrong things, God calls it sin - and sin messes everything up. People sin because they choose to and when that happens there is always a price to pay.

Third: The world can only be saved through Christ.
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

Of course this assumes that there are real places called heaven and hell, and that people who don't trust Christ really do end up in hell. This worldview sees life as a mission and a calling to use our God-given time, talents, and treasures to spread the good news that heaven is a free gift available to anyone. So instead of chasing false happiness in pleasure, power, or people, your life is consumed with the true path to fulfillment, which is serving God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.

I’m a bit disappointed because my Oakland A’s on down two games to the Detroit Tigers. But I’m a man of hope—I believe they’ll come back and win the next four. However during Wednesday’s playoff atmosphere -– real life happened. In the midst of it all, baseball didn’t seem to matter quite as much.

New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle died in a plane crash, when the plane he was flying slammed into a Manhattan high-rise apartment building. He leaves behind a wife and a 6-year-old son. And we’re all reminded of how fragile life is and how quickly it can be gone

Mary Ann and I saw Lydle pitch when he was playing for the A’s in 2001. We were sorry to see him traded at the end of the season.

Over the days ahead, the Lidle family will grieve much, and rightfully so. His wife Melanie has lost a husband and friend. His 6-year-old son Christopher has lost a dad. They will never be the same, and will live with a gaping void that cannot be filled. They desperately need our prayers.

But thankfully, the Lidles’ grieving will not be as those who have no hope -– because despite the fact that Lidle is gone from this life, he claimed allegiance to the one who gives life everlasting.

“Cory and I had spoken on several occasions,” said Rich Sparling, the Baseball Chapel leader for the Philadelphia Phillies, Lidle’s former team. “One of the issues that he had wondered about was eternal security. We spoke about how salvation was a gift from God in response to our faith, and because of God’s grace it doesn’t depend on us.”

Those are comforting words to all of us, especially during a tragedy like this. No one is immune from a sudden death at a young age. A life that is vibrant and full today can quickly be gone tomorrow.

Thankfully, there is hope for us in a life that is short and uncertain. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.”

I was recently asked the difference between persuasive preaching and manipulative preaching. I responded by saying, “The difference lies in the means we use to persuade.” The Word of God is the only legitimate means of persuasion. Legitimate persuasion is cognitive—stirring the mind with reasonable truth. Attempting to convince people with tear-jerking stories or guilt trips takes an unfair advantage and wrongly muddles their thinking. That does not mean we cannot use all the communication skills available to us, but we should avoid playing on people's emotions. These are artificial and should be avoided because they bypass the reason.

The goal of preaching is to motivate people to choose change because it is reasonable and right before God, not because they have been manipulated into some momentary feeling or action. We persuade them from the Scriptures to choose the right course of action.

In 1 Timothy 4:13, Paul writes to Timothy, "Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching." What he tells Timothy is to read the text, explain the text, and apply the text. That verse is a call to persuasive, expository preaching.

Paul himself was a very persuasive preacher, but he never tried to manipulate emotions to move people artificially. At the end of one of his messages, King Agrippa exclaimed, "In a short time you will persuade me to become a Christian" (Acts 26:28). Agrippa clearly understood the message. Sadly, he made a wrong decision in spite of his understanding.

Ultimately, however, our sermons will only be as persuasive as our lives. A traveling speaker who does not remain in one place long enough for people to get to know him may be able to "fake" it without a consistent life to back up his message, (though this is regrettable). Those of us who preach to the same people week after week, however, cannot do that. Our people know us, and our persuasiveness depends on the quality of our lives.

Why would an otherwise “normal” truck driver walk into an Amish schoolhouse and execute innocent children?

People are asking this question and there is no easy answer. This type of manmade tragedy is not usually the result of just one factor but many that collide at a single point in time. Contributing factors can range from repressed childhood memories to mounting stress in a marriage to isolation to a whole slew of mental disorders. Supposedly the truck driver who destroyed these innocent young Amish kids had some kind of a vendetta against girls for something that had happened to him twenty years ago.

Whatever.

As a pastor, it is not my job to psychoanalyze psychotics but to offer hope in the midst of profound evil. So where is the hope?

It is in the courageous spirit of the survivors of such tragedies. As they fight their way through their fears and work their way through their loss, they become shining examples of what it means to overcome.

It is in the determination that something can be done to change the hearts of men, even evil men. That something has to be more than what the medical establishment can accomplish through medication, the psychiatry world can accomplish through therapy and the government can accomplish through incarceration. The problem of evil is that it is beyond the grasp of what any of these can touch. It goes much deeper than any psychologist or doctor can probe.

Ultimately, evil is a spiritual problem that can only be answered with a spiritual solution. Jesus Christ provided this solution for evil when He allowed Himself to be murdered for the sins of humanity. His death provides the forgiveness of sins for all who accept it by faith. His resurrection provides hope that we too one day shall rise from the ashes of this broken, sinful world into a real and everlasting hope.

My prayers go out for the victims and their families. My hope is that the Good News of Jesus and the strong will of the survivors will lead to an eradication of future school shootings.