Talking the important issues of life about five minutes before
bed one night, and my wife says, “It’s a tension. A Master of Divinity taught me it’s all about
the tension — work your heart out whilst learning to relax.”
My wife has uttered some gems in her time in my life, but none
better are they than this.
It applies just as much to marriage as it does to ministry as it
does to life.
Work hard, resisting resenting anything along the way, and let
go of everything that would hold you back.
Acknowledge that everything
worthwhile is worthy of hardship while we work: marriage, ministry,
life. All of what we’d call worthy is
cheapened when we expect it to be easier than the hardest thing we’d ever
do. And at the very same time,
everything that we experience is either to be inculcated within or cast aside.
In marriage we’ve learned that married life is hard work. It was never meant to be anything else. Only when we approach marriage with a hard
work ethic, then do we experience the
joys that only God, in our diligence, could give us.
Joys come as a consequence of knowing expectation is the
temptress of the foolish.
I’m sure it’s the unromantic couples that have the happiest of
marriages. They don’t allow the folly of
fairy tales to script their relationship.
Instead, they take control of the manageable things, leaving the
unmanageable things to a trustworthy God.
It’s the same with ministry.
It’s about service, humility, other people, and discipline. Only when we enjoy doing the work of
ministry, for what that work is alone, are we treated to the joys replete with
the Holy Spirit’s Presence.
Why do we allow ourselves to get deluded in the romanticism of
the world, when, in terms of ministry, our Bibles are full of the only
applicable guidance?
Life holds us to the same measure of wisdom. Work hard.
Enjoy the work. Let go of
anything unworthy. Enjoy the joys that
come as a result.
© 2016 Steve Wickham.
Great piece
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