Burmese miners crouched along a watershed with their feet squelching in mud as they washed gravel to unearth rubies—the precious gem that sells for a high price. In 2014, an 8.62-carat pigeon’s blood Burmese ruby sold for $8.6 million. But these days, miners are extracting fewer and fewer gems. Like the gold rush on California’s coast in the 1800s (that dried up within a generation), the mines in the Union of Myanmar seem almost empty.
Sometimes it can feel like the church is like a stripped ruby mine: another pastor in moral failure, another church leader abusing power. But beyond the headlines, there are many more faithful men and women who serve diligently. They lead, teach, and live out the truth of Scripture with integrity, often without headlines.
These kinds of godly leaders should be highly valued—more than an 8.62-carat ruby. The apostle Paul instructed Timothy, his son in the faith, to give “double honor” to faithful, effective leaders, especially to those who teach (1Timothy 5:17). “Double honor” means to value and monetarily provide for something. Some scholars think this instruction might not have been limited to male elders but also might include deacons and deaconesses (leaders who faithfully serve the needs of the local body of believers).
Either way, talk of money and church leaders can cause most of us to squirm. But the truth is Scripture teaches us to take care of our leaders in every possible way, including financially. I think Paul’s words in 1 Timothy 5 serve as a helpful place to start considering financial payment for spiritual leadership. The worker deserves their pay. Do not muzzle an ox while it’s threshing (1Timothy 5:17–18, Deuteronomy 25:4). In other words, remuneration for the difficult work of leading is appropriate. Paul uses an example of an ox, but we could also imagine modern examples. “Don’t cut off a salesperson from their commissions.” “Don’t hold back a check from a contractor.” “Don’t keep a diligent spiritual leader from compensation for their effort.”
My husband dedicates more hours than a nine-to-five scouring Scripture, teaching diligently, and leading with integrity as a pastor. I buy milk and ground beef with the generosity of believers honoring their leaders. Our local congregation also shares with us in other ways, like filling my daughter’s closet with hand-me-down dresses or offering a vacation cabin for a retreat. They share all their good things with their teacher (Galatians 6:6).
Who teaches you in your faith? Who diligently exhorts and leads you by example? How can you share your resources to uphold them in their work? Maybe you drop off an anonymous gift card, earmark a percentage of your income for ministry, or offer another resource. It might look creative for each situation, but let’s take Paul’s exhortation to heart. Let’s show “double honor” to those who lead us well, for faithful spiritual leadership is worth far more than a pigeon’s blood ruby.
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39 thoughts on "Honor Leaders"
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Yes! I’m encouraged to find new ways to bless those who preach and teach and pour into me and my family.
I’m honored to gift to a family member who preaches through social media to our youth. Thank you lord that I have that to give.
I love this!
Please pray for my beloved aunt Nitsa who was diagnosed with breast cancer.
@Caroline Bridges I had to uninstall and reinstall it today for the same reason.
This was a lovely devotional and discussion. Thanks, Churchmouse, for sharing about Alice.
I tried to post yesterday but accidentally deleted it. Praying for your requests!
Thankful for such deep reminders in today’s devotional and your comments. I can hardly imagine the burden and many fights and pressure points a pastor and his family may have to endure. It is like the hardest job. I think being a pastor is like a psychiatrist in a way that you listen to people’s problems all day long, grieve along side and bear the mental burden. Thank you Churchmouse for sharing about Alice. We go to the Lord’s house not because the worship is great or sermons are amazing, but we go because God is there. Humbling reminder. May we learn from Alice. Be blessed dear sisters.
My study Bible points out that “Preaching and teaching are closely related. Preaching is proclaiming the Word of God and confronting listeners with the truth of Scripture. Teaching is explaining the truth in Scripture, helping learners understand difficult passages, and helping them apply God’s Word to daily life.” Isn’t it amazingly strange how close but how different these two are when it comes to religion and Christianity. I was raised in the church — a very liberal church — and I’m trying to remember how many of the ministers did both from the pulpit. The church I go to now our minister does do that by relating to other incidents or other items, similar to the way the writers of SRT devotional writers do. I’ve visited churches though where it was only preaching and that didn’t satisfy me.
Sisters be blessed and continue to learn more about God, Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Thank you Churchmouse for the Alice story. And, Rhonda J, thank you for reminding us to thank our SRT founders & leaders. I would thank too my fellow She’s that are so faithful to comment here. Your comments lift me up, & your prayers sustain so many of us. Thank you.
Let’s pray for our beleaguered app developers or technical crew as they wrestle to fix our app. I re-downloaded the app & it fixed it. But I find going to the website works the best when it’s glitching.
Hugs & love to y’all.
Phobie, thank you! I was about to email them after deleting the app an reinstalling it did not work.
I have been blessed to live in a parsonage home growing up and receive the gifts of our congregation. I also have been the blesser when my home was a faithful layman’s home. Then again as a pastors wife my husband and i were faithful stewards of our salary. I viewed each paycheck as given by the widows mite. Either side has been filled with rich blessings from on High
Paul wanted there to be no excuse for people to reject the gospel based on negative Christian actions. Live Godly lives to help bring glory to the lord and reach people for Christ. Honor our elders who rule well, good leaders are considered worthy of double honor.
Paul wanted there to be no excuse for people to reject the gospel based on negative Christian actions. Live Godly lives to help bring glory to the lord and reach people for Christ.
I listened to that episode too! So much crazy teaching out there. Thankful for God’s inspired Word and Holy Spirit to keep me grounded in His truth. Sometimes false teaching is so blatant and other times it takes on more subtle forms. I pray daily for discernement and for the church to be filled with faithful men to preach truth and courage of believers to live out God’s truth in the world.
It’s hard to navigate “modern churches” these days, as someone who grew up in church and continued through many up to today! In my youth, it was our second family and we had great Godly role models as youth leaders, we learned to be a part of not only learning but to teach those youth below us, and to fellowship outside of Sundays with trips and gatherings! Yet, problems arose sporadically over the years, and hurtful division came. In my college years, it was more searching for the church that made me feel good momentarily, but with Godly wisdom covered with selfish ambitions.
Then when marriage/divorce came and raising a young toddler son, I NEEDED a church family again. And by way of friends, I found an amazing one! Guess what happened, yes growth, but also fundamental challenges. Reprimation at one point- then growth…then division again. Phew..church is hard sometimes! We changed churches to be more local after a move, and this particular church was great as far as a great preacher, and getting baptized there and attending for several years….yet we didn’t feel a fellowship with the congregation! Discouragement set in again.
Now as empty nesters in a new state, and the search for another new church- I can tell you it is somewhat exhausting and tiring in a way that makes you lose sight of even wanting to go… But God- He is calling His people to be a unit, under Godly pastors in sound doctrine, to be His bride, His light and truth. So instead of complaining and grumbling about all the things we don’t like in the church, let’s get in there and support the hard, hard role of these leaders in trying to follow the Lord’s direction in making a place where believers can cherish and help them. It’s easier to grumble than to be thankful for what we have. Yep, the SRT app is annoying, the wrong day comes up sometimes, and other glitches. Yet SRT started with these two women that wanted to share the WORD daily and has grown so fast and expanded in so many ways the last 10 years! These two ladies are leaders also of the church (God’s women!), and need a little grace to keep up with the technicalities.
Thank you for your bit of wisdom Churchmouse! We all can help give our leaders respect and encouragement.
Have a great day She’s!
Thanks Churchmouse for sharing Alice with us – so convicting!!
If you don’t have the book, you can go onto the website and it shows the right verses
My husband and I are pastor’s kids. We saw firsthand the burdens pastors bear. We also know what a blessing it is for those who honor their pastor, who show extra love and encouragement to his wife and children, who tell him thank you,
Who find ways to encourage him and his family ❤️
My husband and I are pastor’s kids. We saw firsthand the burdens pastors bear. We also know what a blessing it is for those who honor their pastor, who show extra love and encouragement to his wife and children, who tell
I’m glad to hear that there is an update coming for the app, because having to swipe through the green screens before my reading every day and not being able to highlight verses (or read the correct verses since I don’t have the study book) has been beyond frustrating
I reached out to the site developers last week and they said they were working on an update that should fix it.
Taylor, I love reading your comments :) love to see the Lord moving in your life.
Stephanie Wright, reading your comment yesterday, my heart broke for you. Though I am glad to see you have such familial church support, I pray God continues to give you and your family comfort and strength. He sees the big picture and you are all so dearly loved. I pray Galatians 6:9 to you — that you would not grow weary in doing good, despite this loss. God can satisfy and do immeasurably more than we hope or imagine. As a widow, He is your blessed inheritance. Heck, He is everyone’s lasting inheritance in this household of faith. You get to experience more of that, today. May you grieve when you need to but also rejoice in the beautiful life God has for you. <3 sending hugs, love, and peace.
This app is so glitchy! Frustrating, because out of all the Bible apps I use, this one seems to have the issues and the one I pay monthly for. Hope they resolve this quickly.
Alice has gone to be with the Lord but while she was here on earth she honored the leadership of her church every week(I was on staff at the time so this is a first hand account). She faithfully would send a handwritten note thanking the staff for their efforts in providing a meaningful worship service. She would detail what impacted her and how she intended to apply it to her life. Every week on Tuesday her note of affirmation would arrive at the church office. She was unapologetically complimentary. She once said that she was so blessed to have a nice church home to go to every Sunday. She acknowledged it wasn’t because the music was always to her liking (it wasn’t) or that the sermons were never boring (they were). She said she was blessed because “God shows up where His family gathers. He’s the guest of honor. I’m just happy to be in His presence to sing His praises and to thank Him for being so good to me. His family has some goofballs in it and some nefarious characters but mostly there are good hearted folks who want to follow Him better. I just keep my eyes on Jesus and He’ll keep His eyes on the church. He is good at sorting things out. He loves the church so I do, too.”
Wise woman, Miss Alice.
Hi. Yes, I also have to swipe through all the green titles which then takes me to Matthew in the bible section every time. It also isn’t allowing me to highlight. Very frustrating as I don’t have the physical studies.
Hi. Yes, I also have to swipe through all the green titles which then takes me to Matthew in the bible section every time. It also isn’t allowing me to highlight. Very frustrating as I don’t have the physics studies.
I went with my mom and grand-mom to my grand-mom’s church on Sunday. The Lord put a specific number on my mind to give as an offering to the church. I dragged my feet because it’s larger than I normally give. Today’s devotion is that gentle nudge to just do it. I pray we would all be obedient to God’s calling/nudging in our lives. I hope everyone has a blessed day <3
Hi – did you find a way to unable those 4 green screens? If so, I’d like to turn that feature off as well.
Thank you ladies for letting me know the correct reading for today! Have a great day!
Hi Deborah – I had same issue a few weeks ago. It acted like I was a new subscriber. I had to go in and reactivate my subscription and works fine now. Hope this helps!
Great devotional today. Making me ask myself how I can participate in giving my good leaders “double honor” I need good leaders here on earth to help guide my on my faith walk and I’m
I had the same problem. I will have to use my book to go over it again. I hope it’s fixed soon.
I had the same proble
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From HRT: “There are all kinds of ways to show them honor. Write an encouraging note detailing how important their ministry has been in your life. Support them financially by regularly giving to your local church. Pray for them and their families, and let them know that you are doing so. Even so, it’s important to remember that elders, pastors, and church leaders are not without their faults and flaws. They, like all human beings, are in continual need of grace. Their rhythm of life is the same as everyone else: repentance and faith. The “good leader” is not the one who is without sin—for there is only one who is without sin, Jesus Christ. No, the “good leader” who is worthy of honor is the one who, having sinned, humbly confesses, faithfully repents, and prayerfully seeks reconciliation with the wounded party. These are the ones we should “carefully observe the outcome of their lives” and “imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:7).
Let us take up Paul’s challenge today and seek to honor our spiritual fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters. Through their faithful service to Christ, our lives have been changed forever. Even as we glorify the God of our salvation, let us remember the ones who taught us, loved us, and walked with us from the beginning until now. They are worthy of honor.” – for they are living out Jesus for us.
At the same time I ask, where is God calling you (me) to be a mentor or leader for Him. In one of my BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) lessons the Holy Spirit reminded me that while saying thank you verbally, with a note, or gift is important, we too, are called, into leadership by God. When He calls, we get the opportunity to worship Him in obedience to the call. That may mean our hands get dirty. That may mean we wash some stinky feet. That may mean we are spent at the end of day while acknowledging all the good in that day, all accomplished, was/is in the power and strength of God alone. And sometimes it even means sitting and resting in His presence.
Yes, we are blessed with opportunities. Opportunities to press on the blessing of thankfulness to our spiritual mentors, leaders, brothers and sisters, while at the same time stepping forward in obedience to the call and purpose God has for our lives. In His strength. In His power. In His time. All the glory to God.
I have the work book so I know the correct verses :) but yes just going through the web browser verses the app and they should be correct :)
I need to go beyond tithing and be more appreciative of good leaders that are bravely teaching God’s Word. The saying about walk a mile in their shoes … comes to mind, and I definitely have not. While I can intellectually understand their work is vital, demanding, emotionally wrenching, life giving and so much more, I am personally clueless about the sacrifice, dedication and weight of responsibility that is always a part of their lives.
TAYLOR – praying for you. In many ways you remind me of myself in my much younger days, when I thought I was strong enough to be a good example in the midst of the temptations swirling around me. I failed miserably, time and time again. I had to practice focusing on staying away from the edge of the cliff and learn to purposefully avoid opportunities to fail rather than try to walk the fine line between should and shouldn’t. I still have to keep this in mind as the kinds of opportunities to fail change over time. With God’s help, you can do this!
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Giving honor to God involves honoring those His has given as leaders and teachers. If believers faithfully give to the local church the needs of those leaders would be met (like the Levites’ needs were met in the OT).
Praying for our leaders to be faithful and quick to repent when in error is something that should be a regular subject we bring before the Lord.
Have a blessed day