The Day Jesus Walked Away from Ministry
I read a leadership book once about playing to your strengths.
The principle is that if we focus on doing what we’re good at, all of our wildest dreams will come true. That was twenty years ago and I’ve never forgotten.
So when I decided to write my first book, I chose a topic I’m really good at…failure. (Just kidding…well, kind of)
(In fact, I’m such an expert on the topic I’m teaching a Masterclass on it starting next Monday.)
My book is titled Better After Burnout and it talks about how I fell apart in ministry, thought it was over, only to see God put me back in ways I’d never imagined.
I’ve been back in full-time ministry for more than four years now and am holding up better than I ever thought I would.
I will say this though, I certainly don’t go about things the same way I did before. Through failure, I learned a few things about ministry longevity. And in this post I will pass one of them on to you.
The 3-R Method for Ministry Longevity
The principle for today is a little thing I’ve nicknamed The 3-R Method for Ministry Longevity.
I base this concept on the story of Jesus healing the leper in Luke chapter 5.
The story tells us that despite Jesus telling the man to keep his healing hush-hush, word spread quickly that the doctor was in. Predictably huge crowds immediately flocked to Jesus. At this point in the story one would think Jesus would finish off a full day of ministry by “healing them all.”
But he didn’t. Jesus walked away instead.
And that leads us to our first “R” in The 3-R Method…RETREAT.
That’s right, the Bible tells us Jesus walked away, leaving a bunch of sick people disappointed.
RETREAT
Luke 5:15-16 says it like this
15But now even more the report about him went abroad, and great crowds gathered to hear him and to be healed of their infirmities. 16But he would withdraw to desolate places and pray.
Just as Jesus RETREATED from the crowd that day, sometimes we need to do the same.
To be clear, Jesus wasn’t forsaking his calling, being cruel to people, or retiring from ministry. Instead, he was refilling his spiritual and physical reserves that had been depleted by a long day of ministry.
A move that would position him to actually FULFILL his calling in the long-term.
We would do well to adopt this same practice.
In future posts we will go into more detail about how to do that.
It’s Time to Say, “That’s Enough”
For today, though, it’s enough to be mindful that there will never NOT be people needing ministry. Just remember you are a “people” and you need ministry too.
So sometimes it’s important to RETREAT from the crowd, spend time with the Father, and be ministered to yourself.