“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.- Matthew 22:36-39
Plain and simple: love God, love people. But what happens when we get this backwards? When we get so wrapped up in our specific ministry that we forget to love God FIRST, then love the people we are serving BECAUSE we love Him?
But let's take it a step further. What happens when we find our fulfillment, our purpose, our joy, and even our worth in our ministry. We replace our God with ministry and make it all about us. What I want, how I think it should work, what I get out of it, and even how I get recognized. I like to think of this as the Menistry Complex. At the heart of menistry is me, and that's never a good thing.
Our flesh so easily twists things meant for good into things that tear us apart. By replacing my worth in the Lord with my performance in ministry, I have turned a beautiful worship outlet into a self-idol. How easy it is for the enemy to trick us into a place of comparison and competition in a ministry's community. We need to wake up people.
MINISTRY ISN'T ABOUT ME.
It's so hard to grasp, and even harder to practice. It doesn't matter how it's done, where we eat, what games we play, who we serve, who speaks, who does sound. The heart of ministry is the Lord.
I'm realizing the root of the problem is me and that's a sobering experience.
So now what? What's the plan of action?
"And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me." Luke 9:23
