READING: Esther 6-8, Acts 6
“But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the preaching ministry.”
Acts 6:4
The work of ministry involves so many different components that it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Hospital visits. Premarital and marital counseling. Baptisms. Weddings. Evangelistic visits. Leadership training. Mission trips. Vision casting. Office administration. The Lord’s Supper. Sermons. Prayer meetings. General counseling. Newsletters. I could continue this list for some time, and I probably would still not cover everything ministers do. The job is intense, busy, and crazy at times.
Acts 6, though, helps us to keep our priorities straight. The disciples were leading the young church when some Greek-speaking widows in the congregation felt they were being neglected. The disciples did not want to neglect them, but nor did they want to get distracted from their priority: preaching and praying. To settle the issue, they challenged the church to find men “of good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3) to minister to the widows so they could devote themselves “to prayer and to the preaching ministry” (Acts 6:4). They knew that nothing should get in the way of proclaiming the Word and seeking God’s face through prayer, for those are the means through which God saves non-believers. Ministry to the widows mattered, but not to the neglect of these other tasks.
As a pastor, I admit that I sometimes allowed other ministry needs to take time away from preaching and praying. To be honest, I did not have the wisdom to equip and empower others to do tasks that drew me away from these priorities. I was a workaholic who believed that I needed to be involved in everything happening in the church – and in so doing, I not only made an idol of myself, but I also limited what others could do. Often, others were much more talented than I, and I hindered their obedience by my unwillingness to let go of some ministry tasks.
I share this testimony to encourage you to pray for your pastors, who may face the same struggles I faced. We have a tendency to miss the most obvious things in our own ministries – even when the Scriptures address the issues we face.
ACTION STEPS:
- Focus on praying for your pastor today. If you are a pastor, ask a prayer partner to focus on you today.
- Live your life to be a person of “good reputation, full of the Spirit and wisdom.”
PRAYER: “God, help me and those who lead our church to share ministry with others. Help us to focus on preaching and praying.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Esther 9-10, Acts 7:1-21
