One time a preacher came into a convenience
store where I was shopping. He was trying to talk
the clerk into giving him a discount on his shotgun
shells because he was a minister. It embarrassed
me. It almost made me want to curse so that clerk
wouldn’t think I was a preacher, too.

I just stood there and shook my head.

The clerk behind the counter got really irritated at
the man. He could not have given him a discount, even
if he had wanted to, because he did not own the store.
I thought, My goodness, I can guess what this guy is
going to start saying about preachers.

It doesn’t have to be that way, and it shouldn’t be
that way. The first time I really saw how it should be
was while I was a student at Oral Roberts University.

Someone told me how Brother Roberts had responded
when a barber offered him a discount on his haircut.
“No sir,” said Brother Roberts. “I don’t accept
discounts just because I’m a preacher. I’m not a
poor man.”
He would not receive it.

“I’ll pay the same price as anybody else,” he told
the barber. “If God puts it in your heart to invest a portion
of your income as an offering in this ministry, or
any other ministry, that’s between you and Him; but
I’ll pay the full price for my own haircut.”

That thrills me. It thrilled that barber, too. He
hadn’t had many preachers coming in and talking to
him like that. Some of them would probably beg him
out of his combs if he would give them away.

We are going to have to stop this begging business
and dishonorable activity. It is a losing attitude for
ministers—and for all believers. It is a bad representation
of our Lord. Do you think Jesus would be begging
people for a discount? No, no, a thousand times, no!

You never heard Jesus beg. You never heard Him
stand up and mock anyone, not even the government.
To have biblical honor means to honor and obey the
political authorities, even in the face of bad government
and poor treatment. You cannot get much worse
government and poorer treatment than what was
coming out of Rome in Jesus’ day.

You never heard Jesus criticize others behind their
backs. If He had anything to say about others, He
said it to them face to face. Because of that, the Bible
says that many of the Jews and Pharisees followed
Him. We tend to focus on the ones who opposed and
rejected Him, but the Bible says that many of them
did believe on Him and follow Him—in fact, great
numbers of them did.

Kenneth Copeland Ministries