Do You Remember?

Am I the only one who has words and phrases that “ring in their ears?”

One of the things that has surprised me most over nearly 50 years of serving as a minister is how much of what demands your time doesn’t feel much like ministry at all.

Administration. Housekeeping. The relentless push to produce material every week. Perfunctory visits made because they are expected. Small fires that really ought to be handled by the people who started them. Financial frustrations. Leadership failures. Immaturity from people who should be eating meat but are still on baby formula.

The list could go on.

And frankly, it is taxing. Frustrating. Wearying.

It is the kind of stuff that can make a man want to quit.

When I get there, words ring in my ears that I first remember hearing on a cassette tape from my brother. He was talking about marriages, but the words were first spoken by the Lord to the church at Ephesus:

“You don’t love me or each other as you did at first! Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first” (Revelation 2:4-5).

Remember. Turn back. Do the first works.

Maybe you’re about done.

Then for a little while, let some of the other stuff stand.

Remember why you got into ministry in the first place. Get back around people. Open the Word. Encourage somebody. Teach somebody. Pray with somebody. Do something that reminds you, “This is why I became a preacher.”

Don’t let the junk surrounding ministry make you quit ministry.

God bless you.

And please, don’t quit on a Monday.