Who told you it wasn’t allowed?

Most people think it’s fine for a plumber to charge for plumbing.

Nobody questions a teacher who gets paid to teach, or an accountant who gets paid to keep books.

Yet when the idea of earning from your own skills comes up, it can feel like it needs a defence.

It’s worth asking where that feeling came from. Can you point to a verse?

Or did it come from a comment years ago, an offhand remark at a conference, or an assumption nobody ever said out loud?

Paul told the Thessalonians he worked night and day so he would not burden them.

He saw his work as a gift to the church.

Nothing in the text suggests he felt he had to apologise for it.

Try this. Write down your hesitation in one sentence.

Then ask whether it comes from scripture, from someone else’s opinion, or from a fear of what people will think.

For many pastors it turns out to be the second or third.

Those are much easier to deal with than a biblical objection.

Standing with you,

Simon