Why do we do this?

If you were to ask a minister why he signed up for this “job” of being a minister, what would he say?  Would he ever encourage his son to follow in his footsteps?  If he had it do over again, would he?

What is it that causes a man to follow a career path where he is only as good as his last sermon?  Where if he really listens to the Spirit and preaches what is needed he is often hated because many don’t want to hear their failings.  If he somehow doesn’t make enough hospital or home visits, or phone calls, he is regarded as a failure.  He meets couples at the brink of divorce and takes on their pain and hurt in order to help them find the ability to let God put it back together again.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. 

Why would someone want to take on a position where everyone has their own opinion of how he should do his job, and what his priorities should be, and no two people agree on any one thing except that he could and should do better.  What is it that causes a man to want to accept the task of taking different generations, races, cultures, ages and sexes all together into one group and finding a way to help them all mold together even though they all have different preferences, opinions, and purposes?

Is it the constant criticism?  Maybe he enjoys being told that the music is terrible, or that the services are not what they are looking for.  Quite possibly he enjoys being told that parishioners are leaving because they aren’t being fed.  Could it be that he secretly likes to be away from his family far more than is healthy and doesn’t want to be at home?  Or the fact that his wife cries herself to sleep many nights because of the way either she or her husband are being treated or talked about?

What causes a man to lose sleep because he is up all night praying for the Church, for the lost, for saints who are dying, for those who are gossiping and tearing the church apart, and for his family that is being torn apart at the seams because of the seeming insensitivity of the very people he is serving?  Maybe it’s the great pay and/or physical benefits. 

Don’t get me wrong.  Getting paid anything for taking the message of Jesus to a lost and dying world is a bonus, however unfortunately sometimes the ones who are supposed to be on God’s team make being a minister a very thankless and difficult job. 

Maybe he does this, because he just can’t see any other way to do what he wants to do the most and that is to reach people for Jesus.  His life will never be the same because of the caring hand of the Master and more than anything he wants everyone he knows to find that same life changing relationship.

I write this for one purpose and one purpose alone.  I want you to put your thinker on today, that’s it.  Think about the minister or elder or volunteer servant who has made a huge impact in your life and tell him/her thank you.

Think about ways you can make their lives easier not more difficult.

Think about praying for them on a regular basis (and do it)

Think about reaching out to their spouses and children, and not in a judgmental way but in a loving gesture.

Think about what you say in regards to those who are putting their lives on the line for the Kingdom of God every day, before you say it.

Think about (really think hard) what it would be like to be in their position and have mercy on them, show grace to them, and forgive them for their failures w/o holding it against them.

 
May you be blessed today as you think of those who have served you in this capacity at different times in your life.