When I first started preaching, I assumed that becoming a preacher/teacher/pastor would confer spiritual maturity because you get to study the Bible, talk about it each week, and get paid for it. In actuality, preaching can make spiritual health much harder. Here are a few of things that ensnare those of us who preach.

1. Being inauthentic. How often have you heard (or said), "I don't watch much TV, but I saw something recently … " Now why do we say, "I don't watch much TV"? Because we don't want people thinking we just sit in the La-Z-Boy every night. It's so tempting to project an image that we want people to see, and it leaks out in our words, our tone of voice, even our posture and gestures.

2. Fear. When I was starting out in ministry, I remember reading a news story about a pastor who was preaching the book of Revelation when somebody in his congregation shot him. That scared me.

I've not had that kind of opposition. So far. But I have had the fears of how I am doing, and how people ...