Send Them Away!
Today, I'm going to continue the same thought of my previous blog. Remember that when I blog here, I'm often thinking out loud and examining my own heart (you get the unique privilege of seeing inside my head....pretty scary actually). Consider this passage from the Word today:
Matthew 14:13 When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. 14:14 And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. 14:15 And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves victuals. (KJV)
Ok- a few things jump out at me here. First of all Jesus goes to a desert place. There are times in ministry when I seem to long for the desert place. A place of relaxation, no phone calls, no e-mails, no distractions. But often my plans for R & R are quickly curtailed by someone in need. Here Jesus is in the desert place and the multitudes seek Him out to have their needs met. The average minister would probably say "thanks but my office hours are (fill in the blank here)"- I'll be praying for you and hope things turn around...."God bless you." Instead- Jesus is moved with compassion toward them and healed their sick. There are many who do not understand this, but those who do the work of ministry can become exhausted. There are times when I have preached my heart out and prayed for the people that I come away from church feeling like I've been hit by a Mack truck.
Honestly there are times when after I have given it my all in service to the Lord, that I can't wait to be alone and begin to recharge. Apparently Jesus' disciples had that same mentality. I'm not sure what part (if any) they took in the healing ministry on this particular evening, but one thing is for sure- they were ready for the people to go home. Jesus had compassion on these weary travelers and even though He had ministered healing to them, He was willing to go the extra mile. The disciples on the other hand....cried "send them away." Jesus let the disciples know that the time for ministry and miracles was not over...afterward they witnessed a great miracle of feeding the multitudes.
I often wonder if we quit just short of experiencing a tremendous miracle. God calls us to fast, pray, study, stand in the gap, etc. etc. We do this for a season and then we're ready to "call it a night" and send everyone away. There is a joke (albeit not a very funny one) in pastoral circles that goes something like this "pastoring would be great if it weren't for the people." Maybe just maybe, we miss out on something extraordinary because our own self interests trump the needs of others. I'm just thinking out loud here today, and feeling a little conviction over my love of comfort and relaxation. Am I moved with compassion when I see the multitudes in need of healing, or am I ready to say along with the disciples "send them away" ?
Something to muse on today....your thoughts are welcome also..
~Henry
4 comments:
Very probing thought, Henry. I know the temptation of wanting to call it a night, when there are people in need. Sometimes, people's needs and crises can't wait. And, yes, I do think we often stop short of God's best when we act on our fleshly impulses. Great word!
OK I'm going to play the dev...err...wife's advocate here. You men who are ministers in our blog circle don't strike me as the kind who neglect your flocks. Rather, you seem much more like the one I live with.
Darrell becomes so involved with the flock sometimes he loses track of time. I don't mean minutes or hours. I'm referring to days, weeks, months. He loves being "about the Father's business" and has a heart as big as Texas as they say. It is my job to remind him from time to time that he needs to minister to himself and to his family so that he doesn't get completely burned out. That is why we make it a point to take some sort of vacation. The refreshing is not only good for us, even the membership notices the recharge! (This year for Christmas they gave him an extra week's vacation!)
Just make sure you don't neglect the family and yourselves when doing God's work. The Bible even talks about a man who wins a 1000 but loses his own family (no my quote wasn't exact). That is why the proper list of priorities is God, family, church.
If the people really need you, then take care of them. Just don't let them monopolize your time at the expense of yourselves and families.
Libby is exactly right. We can get so caught up in ministry that we neglect our families. I'm not a senior pastor, nor even a full time associate. I don't have the same responsibilties that say, the YP or full time associates have, for one, because my pastor knows that I have to work a day job to survive, and even a 2nd job right now. I do what I can to assist my pastor and the ministry of the church, but my family is my "ministry priority", and it has to be even when I am a responsible for a whole church.
I just watch the movie "The Gospel" last night. Great movie. It's about a young man whose dad is the pastor, and evidently spent most of his time with his church, rather than his family. The teen's mother dies, while his dad is doing ministry, the young man by her side. He then, hurt and angry at his dad, runs from God into a life as an R & B superstar, eventually finding his way back to God, his dad and the church years later. Very approriate point in light of what I saw last night, Libby!
Oh you're right about that- what a shame it would be to win the whole world and lose our own families. I try to make it a priority to have family time every week. I'm bivocational so my time with the children is very limited during the week. Saturdays are typically my big family days. I try to devote that time to the fam and do special things with them.
We usually take at least one family vacation every year and last year we turned camp meeting into a mini-vacation too. We've been going to Florida every year but I'm not sure if I'm up for the drive this time...we may stay closer to home.
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