Creativity is the first casualty.
When you are constantly tired and meeting yourself coming and going, you will not have the time or energy to work on fresh sermons and new directions for your church.
Creativity, it is said, requires a circumference of silence in order to do its best work.
Gordon MacDonald pointed out that the three great banes of our existence these days are hurry, crowds and noise. Ask any mother, any schoolteacher, any pastor.
The opposite of those three would be stillness, solitude and silence. They can be such great blessings in the life of a minister, but they do not come easily nor automatically.
You have to choose.
You will have to be pro-active. No one is going to do this for you.
Even if some sensitive soul approaches you with, “Pastor, you’re working too hard and need to make some changes if you’re going to survive,” they cannot take it beyond that. The martyr complex in many a pastor thrives on being needed, feeds on ego affirmation from church members, and depends on the carnal satisfaction of feeling worthy because “I’m so busy.” All of that is unworthy of a child of God. You will walk by faith and live in the Spirit or work in the flesh and be constantly trying to earn God’s love and everyone’s approval. You have to decide.
It’s up to you. No one will make you rest.
This article originally appeared here.
