Yapping Chihuahuas & “Keeping Men on Their Feet”

My wife’s Dad had a little four legged companion, a Chihuahua of sorts. ‘Tiny’ was his name. You could not approach their home without ‘Tiny’ sounding off. If his actual ferocity were as real as his ‘yapping’, visitors would have been, pardon the pun, “dog meat”. However, in spite of all that verbosity and noise, he never harmed anyone.

Pastors deal with a whole host of “Yapping Chihuahuas”. They sound ferocious. They terrify those who are not familiar with their routines. Essentially they are territorial little beasts. How dare you invade territory that they have staked out as ‘theirs’? Remember, no matter what the issue is, the issue is ALWAYS control! This is applied to ‘space’; that is MY classroom! That is MY Small Group! That is MY Worship & Praise Team! Get the picture.

Like Tiny, these people seldom bite, they just make noise. The lessons are these Pastor.

Don’t let the yapper, (notice this noun is singular - - there is usually only one) become
more in your thinking than they deserve. Don’t magnify the size of the opposition.

Don’t fight ghosts. Don’t hear a whole pack barking when there is really only one.

Don’t invest more energy than “Tiny” merits, usually none. Serve God and let Him take
care of the yapping.

I wrote this to ENOURAGE you Pastor.

The following will help “Keep You on your Feet”! Many a time a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept a man on his feet. Blessed is the man who speaks such a word.

We must encourage one another. One of the highest of human duties is that of encouragement. There is a regulation of the Royal Navy which says: “No officer shall speak discouragingly to another officer in the discharge of his duties.” Eliphaz unwillingly paid Job a great tribute. As Moffatt translates it: “Your words have kept men on their feet” (Job 4:4). Barrie somewhere wrote to Cynthia Asquith: “Your first instinct is always to telegraph to Jones the nice thing Brown said about him to Robinson. You have sown a lot of happiness that way.” It is easy to laugh at men’s ideals, to pour cold water on their enthusiasm, to discourage them. The world is full of discouragers; we have a Christian duty to encourage one another.

Finally, the writer to the Hebrews says that our Christian duty to each other is all the more pressing because the time is short. The Day is approaching. He is thinking of the Second Coming of Christ when things as we know them will be ended. The early Church lived in that expectation. Whether or not we still do, we must realize that no man knows when the summons to rise and go will come to him also. In the time we have it is our duty to do all the good we can to all the people we can in all the ways we can.[1]

[1]The letter to the Hebrews. 2000, c1975 (W. Barclay, lecturer in the University of Glasgow, Ed.). The Daily study Bible series, Rev. ed. (122). Philadelphia: The Westminster Press.