Like most people in full time ministry, I would describe myself as a visionary. When I have ideas for a new ministry or program, I see it vividly in my head. I imagine all the ways this new ministry will work, strategize possible problems, and analyze the ministry to see how many people will be needed to accomplish the required tasks. I bathe the idea in prayer from its inception. If I discern it is in God’s will, I pray for the welfare of the Church and the volunteers that may be needed. The next step is to gather and train the troops.
A few years ago, as I contemplated a new ministry, I began to pray. In my spirit, I heard the Lord say, “No! You have enough going on right now. Your Forever Family will just be busy!”
Friends, we can go about our lives, whether in ministry, volunteering in the church, or running our children back and forth to ballgames, just being busy. We will be tired all the time and never satisfied with life. Sadly, everything we are involved in will suffer. We will be a jack-of-all-trades and a master of none.
When the apostle Paul planted a church, he would designate leaders to handle specific tasks and appoint a pastor for the church. Then he would write letters to encourage and correct them. Paul would also visit the church when possible. If Paul had tried to micromanage every church, he would never have had time to write those fourteen books of the New Testament and raise up additional church leaders like Timothy, Titus, and so many others who multiplied his efforts and the spread of the gospel.
God want us to do the things He has called us to do and to do them exceptionally well!
“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” ~ Colossians 3:23-24
If I am so busy that I am always tired, my family suffers, my ministry suffers, my congregation suffers and worst of all the Lord can’t accomplish all the things through my church and myself that He desires. God wants us to be healthy. This means we need to take a daily inventory of our spiritual lives. Am I praying to the Lord daily and studying His Word as I should? Am I putting the Lord, my wife, my children, my ministry and all other priorities in the proper order? Am I equipping others for the work of ministry to build the Body of Christ and to go out and spread the Good News?
If the Lord is first in my life, all the others will fall in line properly. If I am tired and burned out, I will be worthless to God and to everyone else. God, my family, and my congregation deserve so much more. Stay in touch with the Lord daily and concentrate on doing a few things with excellence!