The Work of Ministry

One of the things I've learned in my few (7) years of serving as a pastor is that your focus is so important. We've had a lot going one at church recently, business meetings, Valentine's Banquets for our adults and children, and lots of sickness. And in these times of business, it is easy to lose track of what is the better thing. You remember Mary and Martha from the Gospels. Martha was so busy doing good things that she neglected to spend time with Jesus who was right there with her. Mary wasn't doing as much, but she spent that time with her Lord, and He told them that was the better thing.

So often in ministry we neglect the better thing. We get busy doing and going, working and preaching, that we can forget what really matters. It is relationships that matter. First with the Triune God, and then with God’s people. We can get so focused on forms and meetings, so focused on programs that we forget the people that the programs should reach. I'm blogging later today that I normally do because I had a friendly breakfast with a church member. I thought about maybe canceling to get some work done, but then I remember that was work. It was the work of ministry. That is what I cannot and we cannot forget. What is the real work of ministry.