I am going to be real for a minute here, and it may be a shock to some: Mondays are hard. Mondays didn’t just start being hard when I started being a pastor; they have pretty well always been this way, and I bet they are for you too. There is a peculiar difficulty about Mondays in ministry, however. A difficulty that I have experienced in an acute sort of way. As a result, I have had to make a list of things that I simply must remind myself of on Monday. To be honest, I need to remind myself of these things most days, but Mondays seem to need more of these. So, on Mondays, I must remember:
-That my identity is in Christ, not in my work.
-That God has called me to be faithful. Not smart, or winsome, or successful, or popular, or even effective. Faithful.
- That I am more than the sum of the criticisms I hear about me
- That my work is not validated or invalidated simply by how many people came to the worship gathering yesterday.
- That things are never as good as they seem, nor as bad as they seem
- That the tiredness that I feel on Monday as a result of pouring all the emotional, spiritual and physical energy into what happened on Sunday will skew my perception of all sorts of things.
- That Christ has not called me to win the internet, but to be faithful
- That my decisions in ministry must be shaped by what most glorifies Christ, not by what makes people happiest.
- That the fallout from that conviction will be that people will sometimes be unhappy
- That at least half of the bad stuff that may be said about me is not true
- That at least three-quarters of the good stuff that may be said about me is most likely exaggerated.
- That it is perfectly normal to be tired
- That I can’t do everything I want to do this week
- That I am loved perfectly by the God I am proclaiming to others, and that my greatest need is to preach to myself today
- That the goal of my personal ministry is first personal sanctification
- That criticism is far easier than encouragement, but God hasn’t called anyone to a “ministry of criticism,” but rather a “ministry of encouragement.”
- That I am not the Savior
- That nearly every major decision I am tempted to make today about life and ministry is skewed by being tired, or overwhelmed, or disgusted, or frustrated, or confused, and that I need to be very careful to consider these truths before making a decision.
- That my family needs me more than the church does
-That I am accepted, beloved, secure, and safe in Christ, even when these things feel untrue at work.
- That work is good, isn’t an effect of the Fall, and should be tiring.
I’m sure there are a lot more than these. I will spend some time going through some of these Monday morning reminders in individual blogs, because I need to explore each of these realities in greater detail. Maybe you do too, and I invite you to explore them with me. These are not simply ministry realities. They are human realities, that I bet nearly each of us needs to keep in front of us on a daily basis.
If you are reading this on Monday, whether you are a stay at home mom, a construction worker, business manager, a college student, or a pastor, here is my encouragement to you: don’t quit. At least, don’t quit on Monday morning. It may be that God is using those hard Monday mornings to produce the weight of glory in your soul, and if you quit you will shortchange that growth. A great amount of internal suffering happens on Mondays. So, I am praying for you. And I am praying for me. Let’s put our boots on together, and put our hands to the plow, and get to work. God’s glory is worth it.
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