Playing to an Audience of One

You are Ambassadors for Christ and therefore, ministers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  You have been called to prepare the way of the Lord by declaration of the message of reconciliation:  "Be reconciled to God."  The fields are ripe with harvest.  In fact, ministering to the needs of a wounded, lost and dying world can be quite daunting and overwhelming to say the least!  How do we respond to so great a need?

A question was put to me today, "“Is it possible to give too much?”  To which I responded:

"Yes, it is possible to give too much. I’m a newly ordained minister and I have found it necessary to establish healthy boundaries – knowing when to step in and when to remain. It is important that we serve out of a place of emotional and spiritual health. When we are depleted in these areas, we really don’t have much to give to anyone anyway, but we are deceived into thinking that we do. Speaking as someone who struggles with co-dependent behavior/motives, I know how easy it is to serve for the wrong reasons.  Wrong motives in service will ultimately result in feelings of resentment. Ministry leaders on the front lines would do well to do 3 things:

1. Examine our motives for service. Is it to please people or to please God?  Are you serving out of love, or to fill your own need for acceptance, to rescue or to make us feel good about ourselves. 
2. Acknowledge God in all of our ways so that He can direct our steps. 
3. Honor boundaries – yours and others. Sometimes we’re doing things that we are not responsible for doing.

Let's be like Jesus.  He only did what He saw The Father doing.  Play to an audience of One.

"They that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength.  They shall mount up with wings like an eagle; they shall run and not get weary; they shall walk and not faint."  Isaiah 40:31