Pastor, you aren’t worthy of your role because a family loves your teaching or thinks you a hero. You aren’t unworthy because someone gets mad at you. Your worth comes from being the object of Christ’s redemption.
Remember who you aren’t.
A few years ago, I came to a very hard conclusion about myself: I will never be able to pastor everybody. I’m sure that fact had been obvious to others for years, but that may have been the most traumatic application of my own self-confessed weaknesses. Even as I type these words, I really can’t explain why this is—and I really can’t understand it—but it is true nonetheless. There are people out there who will simply not be best served with me as their pastor. They aren’t necessarily bad people, and I’m not a bad man. We just aren’t the best match for each other, which is why there are a few other faithful pastors and churches in our area.
Coming to that realization need not cause insecurity, because what is true of me is also true of those other men. They too, are incapable of being everybody’s pastor. And the reason is simple. None of us is supposed to play the role of a Messianic figure to our community. That job has already been taken. So let’s stop trying to be something we aren’t to people who already see what we aren’t.
Remember Who really grows your church!
Every church goes through seasons of growth and pruning. If we are faithful, hard-working, wise, strategic and loving, then we are doing everything that God expects of us, and the “increase” (1 Corinthians 3:6) or the “separation” (Matthew 13:24-30) is all in His timing! So if you are in a period of decline, don’t ignore what might be done to stop it. At the same time, don’t wear all of the pressure to turn the numbers around. Conversely, when a season of growth is apparent, don’t get cocky. We aren’t doing any of it; God is doing it through us.
Remember your real reward.
For too many pastors, growing a big church is the sum total of what “success” looks like, and it’s sad. If that’s all you have, then it doesn’t matter if you “succeed” or “fail,” because rather than using your ministry to build people you will spend your life using people to build your ministry. After all, that’s how we get what will give us glory most quickly. But, such an attitude is treason against our King.
The best way to set yourself free is to look beyond whatever tangible results God may grant in your service to Him, and toward those most beautiful words all of us want to hear one day: “Well done, good and faithful servant!” (Matthew 25:23).
Some people are going to love you. Others are going to hate your guts. Most realize you are just a servant of the Lord doing the best you can. They are right. So get off the emotional roller coaster, and remember who you are.
This article originally appeared here.
