Pastor friend, what would it take for you to be really happy and satisfied where you currently serve?
If you had it, would you still be happy and satisfied in a few days ? Next week? Next month? In a year?
For the most part, we pastors are never satisfied. Before I go any further, I understand the desire to see more souls saved and discipled for the glory of God. What I’m talking about is a lack of contentment in ministry that is more centered on circumstances, goals, etc. Such as . . .
- If I just had a bigger building?
- If I just had a music pastor?
- If I just had more money / a bigger salary?
- If I just had a better place to study?
- If I just had more books?
- If I just more deacons to help?
- If I just had more vacation?
- If I just had a congregation that appreciated all the work I do?
- If I just had . . . .
There may come a time when you have all of that, but if you not careful, you will soon be discontented wanting something else.
Paul reminds us as recorded in Philippians 4:11 that he had learned to be content, to be satisfied in any circumstance. Have you learned to be content? Are you still in training? Are you content with your lot in the place you serve, even if it is a “lowly field” with meager fare? Or does the allurement to have bigger and better have a hold on you?
Consider the following:
- Ministry success is not determined by any earthly measuring rod. Christ, the Head of the Church, will determine success when you stand before Him at the Bema (1 Corinthians 3:5:15; 2 Corinthians 5:9-10).
- Christ did not choose us and place us in the ministry for us to be satisfied but for Christ to be exalted and God glorified (1 Corinthians 10:31; 2 Corinthians 3:5).
- God uses the ministry to sanctify us and knock out of us what doesn’t look like Christ (2 Corinthians 11:22-29; 12:1-10).
- Satisfaction (contentment) and security in ministry are only found in Christ (Philippians 4:11-19).
- Christ has not forsaken us (Hebrews 13:5-6).
- God has given us the privilege of preaching His Word (2 Timothy 4:2).
- God has given us multiplied promises (2 Corinthians 1:20; 2 Peter 1:2-4)
Jeremiah Burroughs describes contentment as “that sweet, inward, quiet, gracious frame of spirit, which freely submits to and delights in God’s wise and fatherly disposal in every condition….It is a work of the Spirit ‘indoors.’ It is a box of precious ointment, very comforting and useful for troubled hearts in times of troubled conditions….Certainly our contentment does not consist in getting the thing we desire, but in God’s fashioning our spirits to our conditions…To be well-skilled in the mystery of Christian contentment is the duty, glory and excellence of a Christian…That man or woman who is never without a contented spirit, truly can never be said to want much. Oh, the Word holds forth a way full of comfort and peace to the people of God even in this world. You may live happy lives in the midst of all the storms and tempests in the world. There is an ark that you may come into and no men in the world may live such comfortable, cheerful and contented lives as the saints of God. Oh, that we might learn this lesson.”
Don’t let your “wants” and “if I had” to crowd out Christ as the preeminent One in ministry (Colossians 1:18). Learn contentment in whatever state you are in because wherever you are, Christ is there to shepherd you and provide for His flock.
Monday’s Ministry Encouragement: Written to encourage you, my friend in ministry, to be refreshed and renewed as we live for Christ and look toward the Bema.
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