{"id":66882,"date":"2024-03-03T16:08:23","date_gmt":"2024-03-03T22:08:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=66882"},"modified":"2024-03-03T16:08:23","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T22:08:23","slug":"four-ways-to-desire-being-an-overseer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/four-ways-to-desire-being-an-overseer\/","title":{"rendered":"Four Ways to Desire Being an Overseer"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Perry Hall<\/p>\n

So much, and I’d say too much, weight is placed on whether a man desires<\/em> to serve as an elder. I’d say “too much” because it is too often used for a man to disqualify himself – “I don’t desire it.” Could it be that we need to better – and by better, I mean more spiritually – understand what it means to desire<\/em>?<\/p>\n

Let’s use I Peter 5, which says something similar. Here, it reads that a man is to shepherd “not under compulsion, but willingly<\/em>” (I Peter 5:2). This is in the context of Peter serving as both an apostle and elder who has witnessed the sufferings of Christ and is a partaker of the glories to come (I Peter 5:1). We can see that desiring to serve in any capacity is a willingness to allow ourselves to be deeply involved spiritually with Christ’s incarnation of suffering and ascension to glory. This isn’t a desire to possess authority but to be possessed by Christ’s example. Desire is inherently tied to Jesus. All believers must be willing to desire to suffer with Jesus even though none desire the suffering itself. Understand the difference?<\/p>\n