Please remember, however, that a broad heart is not a matter of a method, but a matter of the person. If an elder realizes his own problem, and he humbles himself and confesses that his heart is indeed narrow, and that from now on he would try to be broad, brothers and sisters, this is but a method. If your heart is narrow, it will not work for you to try to be broad.

I do not know if you are able to tell the difference. Some elders have a broad heart because the person is broad. Other elders seem to have a broad heart only because they are broad in method. Actually their hearts are narrow, but in order to meet a certain practical need, they take a method that is broad. I would like to point out to the brothers and sisters that eventually this broadness becomes their maneuvering.

I mention this example to show you that the first problem an elder has to deal with is his person. You cannot be satisfied just by changing the method. Of course, we do not mean that the methods need not be changed. What we mean is that it is not enough merely to change the method; rather the person has to change. If you are a narrow-minded person, but you try to be an elder with broad ways, surely the result will be a failure. You cannot deal only with the method without taking care of the person.

We can take another example. Some elders love the Lord very much and are very given to the service, but in their daily life they are very loose and sloppy in their reading of the Word and prayer. One day, they find themselves having to lead the brothers and sisters to read the Bible and to pray, and for the sake of being a pattern to others and an example to the flock, they begin to read the Bible and to pray properly. I can tell you that such reading and praying are numbered in their days. I can guarantee you that they will not last for more than two or three months. I believe you understand what I mean. Here is a method; it is not the person. If you want to help others to read the Bible and pray, you yourself must first be a reading person and a praying person. You have to be such a person with or without being an elder. The reading and the praying should not be your method; they should be your person. If you read the Bible and pray only because you are an elder, such reading and praying is the method of being an elder. It will not work. You have to be the right kind of person to be an elder.

Take another example. An elder has to be honest. You may ask how it is that a brother who is dishonest, pretentious, and crafty can be an elder. I have to let you know, however, that man is not simple; man is very complicated. I have definitely seen elders in the church who love the Lord and are earnest in pursuit, who also are dishonest. Suppose a brother has definitely made mistakes before the Lord, and the Lord has given me as an elder an opportunity to see him, and the brother is very humble to ask me what he should do. If I am a very tactful person, I would say, "Brother, you are just fine. You are all right." But this is being dishonest. It is not the honest way of dealing with one another. Although a Christian has to learn to be human, he should not learn to be human according to the way of worldly society. That kind of being human is eighty to ninety percent pretentious. When such a brother comes to me, even if I cannot say a strong or straight word to him, I should at least not commend him as being all right and being fine. I must consider his condition and ability to receive. If he cannot receive my frank rebuke, then it is better that I keep quiet and be a dumb person before him. I cannot tell him that he is fine and that he is very good. This is to be a pretentious person.