One sunny day I walked along a beach. People were everywhere…working on their tans, reading books, staring out to sea or playing in the sand. Others walked on the beach, passing me as if late for a meeting. But with God’s beautiful creation all around, they were jabbering away on their cell phones.

 

I’m sure it’s clear to you what this Note is about and you know on whom I’m about to focus my attention. Yes, I know. Way too obvious. (I’m almost embarrassed)…..Pastors. Everyone in ministry, actually. But you already knew that. So where were we? Oh yes, the beach.

 

Know why those people were on their phones? Business. I know because they were talking rather loudly to clients, customers, associates…all who would have been surprised to learn that I, too, now knew the Turner deal was lost, last quarter’s profits were terribly low, and some poor guy named Brinkman just wasn’t working out. (And Brinkman, if you’re reading this, I’m sure they meant someone else.)

 

I have no peace, no quietness…

 

Each of these people believed their work was so important they could not leave it at the office. So they continued directing, managing, or whatever it was they were doing…instead of getting the rest they needed. There was no time out, no recharging, no peace. Pastors and ministry leaders  do this all the time…working long hours, seeking answers to every question, even being in two places at the same time.

 

Just like those people on the beach. They’re always “on the job”, taking care of their people, handling the latest crisis, comforting the suffering, developing messages, creating new opportunities to grow the Kingdom, and on and on. So they become exhausted and burned out, not to mention cranky and not much fun to be around.

 

I have a suggestion. For a few weeks, take away their phones. Don’t let them work. Send them off to get some rest, physical and spiritual. Maybe a quiet retreat far from the concerns that follow them each day. Others can handle things while they’re gone. And if none have been trained, it’s a good time to learn. Besides God is the One who leads us anyway. So let Him. He’s up to the task.

 

I have no rest, but only turmoil. ¹

 

The work of pastors and ministry leaders can easily become all-consuming. It can take all their effort and all their time. Then what they do is no longer ministry under the Son, but work under the sun; not a joy, but a burden. Solomon described it this way: The work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind. So I hated life. ²

 

Where there is physical fatigue, spiritual fatigue quickly follows. What is often mistaken as ordinary challenges come from supernatural sources. These are not simply occurrences, but attacks, that leave them weary. As David once wrote, Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest… ³

 

We are all called to be pastors and ministry leaders of some sort. So in a way this Note is for each of us  in the Family of God. But I am especially concerned about pastors and ministry leaders. I hear the fatigue in their voices. I see the misery in their eyes. I feel the loss when their ministries fail, their families fall apart, their health suffers, and their lives venture into the valley of the shadow of death.

 

Let’s help them find the rest they need, and remind them, Anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from His. ⁴

 

Ciloa Forever!

 

Chuck

  

Chuck Graham is Founder and Executive Director of Ciloa, an international ministry devoted to encouraging others and teaching them how to encourage one another. He is also an author and speaker. Chuck and his wife, Beverly, live in Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA. Learn more about Chuck and Ciloa at www.Ciloa.org.

 

Footnotes: (1) Read Job 3:26. (2) Read Ecclesiastes 2:17. (3) Read Psalms 55:6. (4) Read Hebrews 4:10.

Pictures: Banner: Crowded Beach, photo by Chuck Graham. (2) Chuck Graham, photo by Beverly Graham.