Watch Yourself Before You Lead Others

“Did he actually say that?” You can almost hear the stunned response from the Ephesian elders when Paul warned them, “From among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things” (Acts 20:30). False teachers? Of course. Wolves from outside? Expected. But wolves from within? That hits differently.

Paul’s sobering words are a reminder that the most dangerous threats to a church aren’t always external. Sometimes, they rise from the pulpit itself. Pastors, elders, and ministry leaders those entrusted to shepherd can themselves become the predators.

It’s not just about guarding the flock. It’s about guarding your own heart.

The call to pastoral leadership is a call to personal holiness. A pastor who fails to monitor his own soul may one day wake up not as a shepherd, but as a wolf. Here are six danger signs that every pastor must watch for in himself.

1. Pride: The Silent Corruptor

Scripture couldn’t be clearer: “Pride goes before destruction” (Proverbs 16:18). For pastors, pride often starts subtly. A compliment after a sermon. An inflated sense of importance. A resistance to correction. Left unchecked, it breeds a “Diotrephes” spirit the kind that “loves to be first” (3 John 9).

The office of pastor carries authority, but it is always derived, never innate. When a pastor begins to believe his own press clippings, cuts off accountability, or craves recognition, he’s walking straight into a fall. God gives grace to the humble, but He opposes the proud (1 Peter 5:5).

2. Negligence: The Withering Soul

Pastors often fall not from malicious intent but from slow neglect. The tyranny of urgent ministry demands sermons, counseling, emails, meetings can crowd out the essentials. Prayer becomes perfunctory. Bible study becomes sermon prep only. The soul shrivels.

Paul’s words to Timothy must ring daily “Keep a close watch on yourself” (1 Timothy 4:16). A pastor who neglects his own communion with Christ will inevitably lead from emptiness. Robert Murray M’Cheyne once said, “A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.” And holiness requires discipline (1 Timothy 4:7). Without it, preaching becomes performance and leadership becomes hollow.

3. Compromise: The Drip That Destroys

Few pastors fall in a day. Most fall by degrees a small compromise here, a gray area there. Whether it’s financial impropriety, secret sin, or a slow fading of moral clarity, compromise erodes credibility and spiritual authority.

When a pastor avoids accountability, isolates himself from fellow leaders, or pushes back against correction, those are red flags. If left unaddressed, he’ll not only harm himself but also infect the church with confusion and contradiction. Scripture is blunt: “Be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:19).

4. Control: The Abuser of Authority

Godly leadership is servant-hearted. But some pastors drift into domination. Driven by fear, insecurity, or ego, they micromanage, manipulate, and refuse to collaborate. They trade gentleness for guilt, humility for hierarchy.

Paul warns against “domineering over those in your charge” (1 Peter 5:3). Jesus leads by example, not coercion (Matthew 11:29). A pastor drunk on control is not shepherding he’s suffocating the flock. And Christ will not tolerate it.

5. Jealousy: The Rotten Root

Saul’s downfall began with a song: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1 Samuel 18:7). Envy took root. Pastors today face the same temptation. Another church grows. Another preacher’s podcast explodes. Suddenly, ministry feels like a competition.

James warns, “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder” (James 3:16). Jealousy poisons relationships, clouds judgment, and steals joy. But pastors who root their identity in Christ, not comparison, lead with freedom and faithfulness.

6. Burnout: The Silent Killer

Burnout rarely announces itself. It creeps in through overwork, emotional fatigue, and spiritual dryness. A pastor who never rests, never recharges, never rejoices in Christ will soon find his love growing cold. His sermons lack fire. His compassion fades. His spirit dims.

Even Moses needed Jethro to tell him, “You are not able to do it alone” (Exodus 18:18). The church belongs to Christ, not to the pastor. Sabbaths matter. Family time matters. Time with God matters. A burned-out pastor cannot shepherd a thriving church.

Guard Your Heart, Shepherd the Flock

Paul’s words to the Ephesian elders remain piercing: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock” (Acts 20:28). The Holy Spirit has made you an overseer. That means the first soul you must oversee is your own.

The statistics are sobering. A 2023 Lifeway study revealed that 54% of pastors have considered leaving ministry due to stress, isolation, and burnout. These warnings aren’t theoretical. They’re real, pressing, and devastating.

But there is hope.

Christ is both the Chief Shepherd and the soul-keeper of every pastor. He gives grace for humility. Strength for discipline. Power for purity. Rest for the weary. Joy for the faithful. He’s not looking for perfect leaders, but for repentant ones pastors who lead from a place of dependence, not pride.

Beware the wolf within. But take heart the Lamb reigns.

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